


Liraelan Bladesinger

by Wolfaelan



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 17:28:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15152120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfaelan/pseuds/Wolfaelan
Summary: Storywoven adventure of Liraelan Bladesinger and co, both through roleplay with others and personal writing.





	1. Return of the Jackal

**Author's Note:**

> I know it starts out a little choppy and it's not entirely my best writing - I was a bit rustier when it began. It streamlines as it goes and, as all improvement happens, it all gets better as it continues.

Liraelan crept through a field of bears in Azsuna under the early moonlight, her soft boots making no noise in the grass as she passed unseen. Giving the beasts a wide berth as to not be scented, she gradually made her way to the path. Crossing quickly, avoiding steps that would make noise on the cobblestone, the assassin moved to scale the rock wall towards the ruins beyond. Her foot had only just settled on a solid step when an arm circled her waist, pulling her away.

 Without a sound she twisted to face her sudden captor, a hidden dagger instantly pressed to his purple-grey throat as she whirled them around and pushed him against the rock. Recognizing the white haired elf, she scowled at him and held the dagger more firmly against his skin. He calmly raised his weaponless palms as she hissed, "What do you think you're doing, Ban?"

 Sebanti grinned at her, only infuriating her more. "You know I can't resist your charms, Lira."

 "It's _Bladesinger_ to you." she growled, backing away from him with distaste. "I am on a mission, what do you want?!"

 "Well, I happened to see you near that demon hunter camp before you vanished -" he started in a slow drawl, his wicked amber eyes watching for every sign of her annoyance.

 "You've been following me for that long?"

 "Shush, I'm telling a story." He watched her hand twitch and grinned wider, eyes sliding back up her body to her angry face. "And I happened to notice one of the demon hunters was really familiar. She kinda looked like you. Do you have an aunt or something?"

 Her jaw clenched, empty hand tensed into a fist. "Every time I didn't think I could hate you more you open your mouth. What the _fuck_ do you want, Sebanti?"

 His smirk grew as his eyes narrowed, his gaze trailing down her again, taking his time as she increasingly desired to plunge a dagger into his heart. His eyes finally returned to meet hers, her hard glare contrasting with his unconcerned expression. His mouth quirked back up in his smirk as he decided to goad her. “You seem to have taken an interest in those tainted elves, _Bladesinger_. Especially a particularly loud one."

 With a snarl she lunged at him, swinging. He was, as always, faster than her, though, and knocked her small dagger out of her hand as he grabbed her wrists, twisting them around as he moved to pin her against the jagged rocks. His grip was firm, keeping her hands at shoulder level as he stood on her toes. “Don’t think I forgot Felwood, do you?” he taunted, leaning his weight forward to keep her immobile. He leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes seeming to drink in the hate that poured from hers. "I have always loved getting a rise out of you, little wolf. You're so _easy_. Like how you threw yourself at that demon hunter. If only you'd throw yourself at me..." He moved his face to brush his cheek against hers and Lira turned away in disgust. He licked her cheek as he pulled his head back. "You taste better when you're helpless."

 “I’m never helpless.” she growled, lunging her head forward to bite at his throat. She cried out in pain when he slammed her head back against the rock, his hand circling her throat. With a triumphant grin, she pulled her dagger on him and slashed outward. He leaped back before she could make contact, sneering as he drew his swords.

 “I keep underestimating you, little wolf. I didn’t think you fought dirty, didn’t want to tarnish your shiny _rules_.” Sebanti taunted as he slowly sidestepped, keeping an eye on her body language. “But, then, you associate with the tainted elves, so I suppose your standards are slipping.”

 “The _Illidari_ far worthier than you are, Nightwhisper. I was hoping you wouldn’t come back, but some things are just too good to expect.” she retorted, stepping slowly away from the rock wall.

 “Aw, Lira, you break my heart.” he teased.

 She smirked, getting him right where she wanted him. “Rather I rip it out.” she snarled, launching herself forward in a whirl of blades. He tried to jump back, finding no footing behind him as he went to land. She laughed as Sebanti fell back with a surprised cry onto a sleeping bear who awoke with a very testy roar. Using the distraction to her advantage, she left, fading into the shadows as her heart thudded in her chest next to her boiling rage.

 Lira found an alternate path to her prior destination, straining her ears for any sign of Sebanti’s return. It was more likely for him to back off and stalk her, waiting to strike again at his advantage. She scowled at nothing in particular, adding fresh poison to her blades. Here she thought she might have been able to have a good week. Now she wouldn’t be able to even hunt demons without having to watch her back for him.

 Speaking of demons, she crouched down as she came up on the rise, eyes trained on a wrathguard that shuffled through a portion of the ruins like it was looking for something. It stood up straight as she approached but it had detected her too late. Her daggers plunged up between the demon’s ribs and she ripped one out to tear a large gash across the wrathguard’s side. Yanking the other upward, she hopped back a couple steps as it moved to retaliate.

 Ducking under the swing of its greataxe, she watched it arc up towards the sky before hitting that brief pause of stillness before the demon swung it down in a mighty cleave toward her. Diving out of the way at the last possible moment, she rolled and stood as she turned to witness the axe bite deep into the ground, effectively disarming the beast. Flicking her daggers toward the dirt, demon blood splattered off of them onto the grass and with an almost gleeful laugh she darted back in to leap up the much taller demon. Reaching its shoulder as it moved to try to grab her, she hopped to its reaching hand and plummeted down with her daggers out to rip deep gouges down the demon’s chest.

 Dancing away again, she faded into the shadows as it fell to the ground on top of its own axe, weak from blood loss and her poisons. Lira waited until she saw it die before leaving, a smile on her lips as she crept back down toward the field with dark demon blood streaking up her arms.

 She felt much better, now, despite the recurrence of her least favorite elf. Trailing back toward Illidari Stand, she gave a small wave to a demon hunter who watched her pass through the shadows toward the beach. Lira dove into the water after she reached the edge of the shallows, twisting around as she swam downward. The water washed the tainted blood from her body and armor as she pushed herself ever deeper. Turning her body around to point her head back up, she looked toward the surface and the faint glint of moonlight shining down on it.

 Liraelan waited a few extra moments after her lungs started to ache for air, letting the faintest trace of panic rise before she shot up to the surface. Gasping as her head broke water, she took in the crisp night air as she let her form float on the sea. The moment was ruined slightly by the tang of demon from the ruined island nearby.

 With a sigh, the rogue made her way back to land and, dripping wet, walked past the illidari going about their various tasks. She didn’t know all of them, yet, but she had already fought with a handful against the demons of the Isle. Most of them treated her with detachment, like just another weapon to utilize against the Legion.

 That was fine with her, because that’s exactly what Lira aimed to be on her missions.

 ~~

 After a couple hours to eat and get a proper bath and clean her gear, since seawater wasn’t the best thing for skin or leather, Liraelan made her way into the depths of Dalaran to enter the hideaway of Azeroth’s sneakier folk - the Hall of Shadows.

 Giving Madam Gosu her usual greeting as she passed, Lira looked away from the pandaren to glance toward the mission board across the short bridge. It didn’t look like anything new had been added, yet, so she went ahead and made her way to the lower chamber. Vareesa barely glanced up as the Kaldorei passed, approaching Mathias Shaw.

 “Mark another demon in my count, Shaw. Task is done.” Lira remarked, adjusting a pouch on her belt. “Got anything else for me?”

 Marking some notes on a report, the human shook his head. “Not as of yet, Bladesinger.” Glancing up, he raised an eyebrow at her. “You are always looking for missions. Surely you have some sort of… social life?”

 She raised an eyebrow back, not letting herself smirk at him. “I might. But no one will have one at all if the Legion wins, so… expect more mission requests from me, Shaw. Have a good morning.” She turned and departed, sighing as she passed the Vault.

 “You need to learn how to relax… _Bladesinger_.”

 Her quiet steps halted at the sound of the voice, her blood running like ice in her veins. With a scowl, she turned her head to see Sebanti leaning against the inner wall of the Vault, almost caressing the hilt of one of his swords. She resisted the reflex to draw her daggers, very aware of the other agents in the chamber.

 “So, I get the displeasure of seeing your face twice in one day, Sebanti.” she snapped, keeping her voice low as she stepped to face him while keeping her distance.

 A slow, cruel smile curved his mouth as he pushed away from the wall with a casual shove of his shoulder, taking a stride to stand just outside of an intimate distance to her. His eyes looked disappointed when she didn’t recoil but his grin grew. “I’d say the _pleasure_ is all _mine_ , Lira. I see you didn’t get all the aggression out during your mission, though. A shame, you seemed to have so much fun with it.”

 Her eyes narrowed as she glared poison up at his. “Glad you enjoyed the show. Now, then, care to explain why a low-life asshole like you are here working in the Hall?”

 His face darkened, the grin slipping from his lips. “Why, Lira, I’m here to fight for the world, too. Just like you.” Canting his head to one side, his ponytail moved with the gesture. “I would have thought that would make you happy.”

 “The only thing involving you that would make me happy,” she began, a mocking smirk crossing her face, “is if you died on top of a pile of demons.”

 Before he could respond, Lira turned on a heel and walked away, leaving the Hall before he could properly follow. Her feet took her to the Greyfang Enclave and through the portal to Darnassus, a swift rush of magic taking her far away from the city and Sebanti.

 ~~

 Pausing at the door to Vae’riss’ house, Lira stood in the light rain for a few minutes. The last time she was here was when her best friend was tending an illidari. The rogue smirked into the rain at the thought. It was a turn for an interesting All Hallow’s Eve, that was for certain. A moment longer in the weather left her pondering if he even expected her to show up. She guessed not, she can’t imagine she made that great of a first impression.

 Sighing, she tested the doorknob. When it turned, she entered the small, dimly lit home to see the priestess sitting at her desk writing. Vae looked up briefly, knowing who to expect barging in at this hour.

 “It’s raining again?” she asked, turning back to her papers as she adjusted the long, white braid on her shoulder.

 “No, I took a dip into the city-wide lake is all.” Lira remarked sarcastically, grabbing a spare blanket from Vae’s wardrobe and wrapping up in it before dropping onto her bed.

 “No need to get snarky.” Vae said as her quill scratched lightly on her parchment, the soft glow from an enchanted lantern illuminating the span of the desk’s surface. “A bad day on the Isles?”

 Lira sulked for a short time, remaining silent in the blanket. Finally, after a sigh, she muttered, “He’s come back.”

 The quill’s scratching halted and the barest sound of the tool being dropped reached Lira’s ears before she felt Vae join her on the bed. “What did he do this time?” she asked, petting the rogue’s dark blue hair where it stuck out from within the blanket.

 Recounting the unfortunate events from the night, Lira ended up sitting up against the headboard, mostly dry again. “I can’t believe he’s going to be in the Hall. Actually, I _can_ believe it, I just wish he wasn’t so… alive.” she growled the last word, glaring at some imagined hateful spot across the room. Vae pulled her down to lay against her.

 “Maybe he’ll meet with a horrible fate at the hands of some unbeatable demon.” the priestess remarked with a hopeful tone.

 Lira shrugged. “It won’t be as satisfying.”

 “You know, nothing is completely impossible. Maybe _you_ will get to.”

 “I promised not to or he’d already be dead.”

 Vae lifted her eyebrows, reaching up to stroke Lira’s cheek softly. “Nothing is completely impossible.” she repeated. Giving the rogue a light kiss, she pulled the blanket over herself as she guided Lira from her sitting position to lay on the bed. “In any case, you look like you need to sleep. Get some rest, Lira.”

 Responding with a grumble of dissent, Lira tucked her head back under the blanket anyway and, cuddled up against the priestess, went to sleep.

 ~~

 Vae’riss was absent the following evening when Lira woke. A small note laid on her pillow near the rogue’s face and, sitting up as she brushed her fingers through her hair, she opened it.

 

_Bringing food back, don’t worry. Should return before sunset._

_~V_

 

 Sighing, Liraelan dropped back against the pillow and burrowed under the blanket. She listened for Vae’s return but, in the silence, ended up dozing off again. Her foot jerked in her sleep a couple hours later and Lira bolted up in the bed, suddenly very alert. Jumping out of the bed as she tore the blanket off of her, she pulled her boots on and snatched her belt from the table, buckling the straps of the boots as she braced her feet on the wall one at a time. Wrapping her belt around her hips as she looked out the window, the rogue scowled.

 It was long past sundown. Something was wrong.

 Checking her weapons, she ran out of the small home and, cloaking herself in shadows, searched through the city for the priestess. Vae was never late. Worry laced Lira’s thoughts as she prowled. With Sebanti back… but no, he’d never used her as a pawn before, after all this time why would he now? Shaking her head in the darkness, she scowled as she searched for signs of anything that could lead her to Vae. He could not be trusted, not with anything.

 Soft voices near the Howling Oak caught Lira’s attention and she crept over as quickly as silence allowed. Vae’riss was in a conversation with a Gilnean, the pale elf nodding here and there with interspersed replies as the human talked, her hands moving a lot with her speech. Backing away, the rogue made her way back toward Vae’s home. Pausing by the base of a tree, a shop above her head, Lira leaned into the bark and sighed in relief. She felt suddenly foolish. Of course Vae would get distracted in helping another.

 Pushing away from the tree, she went back inside and dropped into one of Vae’s oversized chairs, sitting sideways as she idly sharpened her daggers. Her eyes watched the whetstone as she moved it in tiny circles along the blade’s edge. So focused on the task, she barely registered when Vae finally came home, giving her head a sharp jerk as she looked up in slight alarm.

 “Good evening, Lira. Sorry I’m late. I still brought food, though!” Vae chirped as she closed the door behind her. “Hope you haven’t waited long.”

 “I slept most of the time. Decided my knives needed a new edge.” Lira remarked casually.

 Smiling softly, Vae walked past the rogue and gifted her with a light kiss on her forehead. “You are adorable when you worry about me.” she purred teasingly before taking the basket of food over to the table. Lira scrunched her face at Vae’s back before following, putting dagger and stone away.

 ~~

 The next few days seemed to go by in a blur. Liraelan met up with the illidari as planned, much to his subtle surprise. She accompanied him to Suramar, where he wanted to investigate something that could benefit the efforts against the Legion. Things went well, more so than she had truly expected. Galdriine had her join him for a few other hunts, this time against places of high demon activity. The usually solo rogue found herself having much more fun than she had expected with a partner alongside. Their combined brutality against the Legion’s forces was something to behold, like a storm of furious blades.

 She didn’t see Sebanti for at least a week and had _almost_ completely forgotten about his return. Her days were interspersed with missions, sleeping and hunting with Gald. She kept an eye on Vae from time to time, the rogue’s crow friend often spending his time in the tree outside Vae’s home. Setting out from the Hall of Shadows one evening after reporting in, Liraelan made her way down to Azsuna to peek in on her mother.

 Lira still remembered the shock and numerous mixed emotions she had felt upon seeing Ashirae Bladesinger, once a proud and beautiful Priestess of the Moon in Hyjal, amongst the Illidari when the demon hunters had first approached the Alliance in Stormwind. The assassin had stalked the group through the city at a distance, heart pounding in her ears as she watched her mother waiting patiently with the others as one of the Illidari went to speak with King Anduin.

 She had never gathered the courage to approach the former priestess, even still.

 Lira lounged by the shadow of a pillar at Illidari Stand as she waited, watching the demon hunters go about their tasks. Her mother was talking with one of the higher ups that Lira had heard named as the Souleater. She moved her hands as they talked, ancient memories welling up in Lira as the rogue watched, unseen.

 A familiar and usually welcome scent drifted over her and she looked up at her scowling lover. Gald appeared displeased with her idleness. "There are demons that need slain. What are you doing here?"

 Lira sighed, fidgeting with an armband as she looked back over at her mother. "I just got back from killing demons, is that fair?"

 He followed her gaze, frowning maybe a little less. Sometimes Lira couldn't tell. "Is she the one you had mentioned? Your mother?"

 She side-eyed him, hunching over somewhat like she was trying to make herself smaller. "I don't know what to -"

 "Hey!" shouted a voice that filled Lira with an almost instant, fiery hate, her expression changing under Gald’s scrutiny. " _Bladesinger!_ "

 Lira froze, her eyes widening as she looked back toward her mother, who had stopped talking and looked toward the shout, along with a few other demon hunters. Stiffly, Lira turned her head to look as well, seeing the white hair she so detested. Sebanti looked right at her with a wicked grin on his face. With a panicked glance, Lira looked back toward her mother and saw that the former priestess had spotted her hidden daughter.

 She dug her nails into her own arm as she felt the blood drain from her face. "By Elune I am going to _kill him_." She fled, darting past Gald as she vanished beyond the shadows, her footsteps taking her toward the general direction Sebanti had taken off in.

 Behind her, a voice she had not heard in so many years called out to her in a confused panic. "Liraelan?!" The rogue winced, unseen to the world, as she ran away.

 ~~

 A few hours later, Liraelan stomped down the path in the Hall, passing the black market in a foul mood and neglecting to greet the pandaren as she usually did. She heard the hidden worgen guards snuffle at her and her rage as she passed them. Storming over toward the bounty board, she started scanning for anything pertaining to her assignments.

 A deep chuckle pervaded the stormcloud in her head and she slowly turned, seeing Sebanti playing cards with a goblin. With a low growl she moved towards him with murder in her eyes. " _Sebanti!_ "

 "Oh, so the wolf _does_ bark. Interesting." he replied without turning around, fiddling with his cards as the goblin played a turn. Mathias turned up into the bar area with some papers just in time to see her draw a dagger.

 "Stand down!" the human ordered, tossing the papers onto a nearby table as he moved forward to intercept her.

 Liraelan ignored everything except her prey until she was pulled back by a pair of strong, pale arms as the scent of Sin’dorei engulfed her. "Let me go!" she snarled, moving to stab her captor. A quick dwarf ducked in and out, dropping her five easiest blades to reach onto the table with Shaw's papers. "I will have his fucking head! Let me go!"

 Mathias gave the male night elf an exasperated scowl as Sebanti shrugged and grinned before shaking his head at Lira. "You know I can't let you do that, Lira."

 "He's a filthy-" she tried to unbalance the blood elf holding her, to no avail, "fucking RAT. SEBANTI, FACE ME!"

 With a sigh and now several onlookers, Sebanti set his cards down with what Lira knew was a smug aire before scooting his chair back and standing, taking the extra time to step out of the way and scoot it back under the table. He leaned against the back of the chair as he looked at her, almost savoring the scene. "You called?"

 "You knew _exactly_ what you've done, Ban. Why?!" Lira demanded, still pulling at the blood elf, their tan glove coming askew in the efforts of holding her back.

 He gave a slow smirk, resting his wrists on the hilts of his swords. "I didn't know your mother was one of those tainted elves, I was just looking for you."

 A small, collective gasp rippled around the bar and a second rogue grabbed her as she broke half-free to lunge at him, her face less than a foot away from him. "You knew _full_ well what you were doing, you _liar_. This is the last insult, Nightwhisper."

 Sebanti smiled in full, brushing imaginary dust off his vest. "Alas, you can't do anything. I've been assigned the retrieval and wardenship of the Dreadblades until the Legion threat is conquered."

 Liraelan felt like the air was knocked out of her as she went pale, no longer fighting against her captors. "You're... _you_ are getting an artifact?"

 "The Uncrowned have deemed me impressive enough to get the job done, Lira." He flashed her a smirk as she scowled at him. Dropping his voice, he added, "Now I'm a greater asset than you'll ever be. You can't touch me."

 Idly, she pulled free of the blood elf and, she suspected by the scent, a worgen in human form, to stand as close to Sebanti as she could stomach. She felt the two behind her, as if they were ready to pull her back. They wouldn't need to.

 "One day the forces of Azeroth will bring down the demon threat and you will no longer be useful to anybody. On that day my daggers will drink of your blood and you will die at my feet. Or, alternatively, the demons will kill us all and you will still be dead. I will be happy either way." she hissed under her breath.

 Turning on a heel after seeing his smirk falter slightly, she pushed past the rogues behind her and stormed out of the rogue's haven. Her feet took her back to the flight pad and, hopping up on Vit, she paused. She didn’t know where she wanted to go. Reaching down to scratch idly at the stone drake’s neck, he craned it to look backwards at her while he waited for orders.

 “Hey, Lira.”

 Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a Kaldorei death knight walking up, clad in dark red armor. His shoulder length black hair was tied back into a short tail and a large red spear was slung over his shoulder. Sighing, she turned back to pat at Vit before dropping down. “Hey, Gidrael. What are you up to?”

 “Looking for you. I talked to Vae.”

 Sighing, Lira leaned her head against the side of the drake. “Did you talk to her or did _she_ talk to _you_?”

 Coughing lightly as he came to a stop to stand beside her, he remarked, “Yeah… she talked to me.”

 “And I can assume the topic.”

 “Sebanti.”

 She grumbled under her breath before speaking out loud again. “I’m not allowed to kill him, trust me I already would if I was able.”

 “You are perfectly able to, Lira, what you lack is the desire to go against orders, no matter how old they may be.” Gid scorned.

 Looking up at him, she frowned. “Gid, this particular order is new. Shaw or the Shadowblade or whomever has assigned that particular waste of air the Dreadblades. Assuming he doesn’t die _getting_ them,” adding a comment about how that would just take care of everyone’s problems under her breath, she continued, “Sebanti already outclasses me as a straight up fighter. With weapons of power like that I stand no chance.” With an angry scowl, she climbed back up into Vit’s saddle. “Every time he shows up he complicates my life. I wish he would just fall off Azeroth and save me some stress.”

 Giving the drake a light push, Vit moved to jump off of Dalaran before Gid could call back up to her. Shaking his head, he watched her fly away before turning away from the edge of the pad. Looking across toward the doorway into the city, he paused as his eyes fell on a demon hunter. His eyes narrowed, trying to place the familiar poise and stride as she drew closer, looking around as if she were trying to find someone.

 Her blindfolded gaze fell on him and everything clicked, his eyes growing wide.

 “I know you.” she said, walking straight up to him. “I’m not sure how, you’re not immediately familiar. But I know I know you.”

 Sighing, he glanced back over the edge of Dalaran as if he wished he could flee with Lira. Looking back to the inquiring illidari, he nodded. “You watched me grow up, actually. It’s been a long time, Ashirae Bladesinger.”

 ~~

 Liraelan landed in Lorlathil, letting Vit fly back to Dalaran as she turned to figure out where she wanted to wander. Sighing, she walked over to lean against a fence, watching people pass through. A worgen druid was talking excitedly with a native to the small village, an aged male Kaldorei.

 In her distraction she heard close footsteps too late and, daggers half-unsheathed, found herself in a fragrant embrace. “Hey, Liraelaaaan.” sang a welcome voice as long, dark blue hair curtained over her shoulder.

 “Hey, Stardust, how are you doing?” Lira asked as she turned to hug the druidess back after dropping her daggers back in place. Pulling away, she climbed up to sit on top of the fence as she looked down at her friend. Loraelais brushed her hair back over her shoulder, adjusting her dark green scarf.

 Her smile fading slightly, Lira sighed. “I’m afraid I have bad news.” she admitted as she rubbed at her face. A low, growling rumble sounded from the shadows nearby and her brother prowled into view. Luceris shed his dark feline form and stood behind his sister, barely a head taller than his counterpart.

 “Define ‘bad news.’” he remarked dryly, his voice somewhat deeper than she remembered. Lais fidgeted with her scarf, looking concerned and nervous.

 Wilting slightly as she looked between the two of them, Lira dropped her face into her hands. By Elune it would be so much easier if she had just… Sighing again, she looked down at them. “He’s back. And it doesn’t look like he’s making it brief. So, Lais… watch your back, okay?”

 Eyes wide, Lais looked back at her brother, who was glaring up at Lira. “What kind of assassin can’t get rid of one threat? _Especially_ when he’s already almost killed some of us?!” Luceris demanded, stomping up to stand directly in front of the rogue.

 “Luc, it’s-” Lais started in a soft voice, reaching out for her brother’s arm.

 “He’s right.” Lira interrupted, making Lais fall short as the rogue dropped off the fence, almost toe to toe with the feral druid. “Luceris, I _will_ be dealing with Sebanti. He’s made things a little more… complicated… but I will find a way.”

 Silver eyes continued to glare down at her as he frowned. “It’s always complicated, from what I understand. What makes this time any different from the others? Why is he not dead already?”

 Smiling grimly up at him, she steeled her gaze. “He will fall before the Legion does. You can bet on that.”

 “Lira…” Lais peeked out from behind her brother, still fiddling with her scarf. “I hope you don’t dive headfirst into something that will get you hurt…”

 The rogue’s expression softened somewhat as she dropped her eyes to focus on the younger druid. “Don’t worry about me, Stardust, all I want is for you to stay safe.” Looking back up to Luc, she added, “For you both to stay safe. Right now he’s acting like every other agent in the Hall, besides for the whole... stalking me thing. If anything changes you two will be the first to know, alright?”

 Crossing his arms, Luceris let out a slight huff of impatience before nodding. “I know you keep your promises, Lira. And I’ll be here to protect Lais.”  
“But of course. Do not let down your guard, Luc. I’ve gotta go, just… just stay safe, alright? Both of you?” Lira brushed her hair back, looking half as worried as she felt. Lais darted around her brother to hug Lira again and the rogue returned it tightly, suddenly engulfed by her floral scent again.

“Lira, I know the past burdens you, but… you are not the trainee you used to be. Stop letting him haunt your steps.” Lais said, pulling away enough to look the assassin in the face.

Holding her gaze, Lira gave a grim look. “I’m better than him… I won’t let this threat linger much longer.”

~~

Illusionary magic tingled across Liraelan’s skin as she walked the streets of Suramar city. Casually picking up an unmonitored bottle of arcwine as she strolled through the bazaar, the disguised assassin skirted around observant guards. Her outward appearance was a far cry from the darkly armored, blue-haired Kaldorei she was, the magic bound to a pendant made her look like just another Shal’dorei, a native to the oppressed city she currently walked.

Her eyes lit upon a trembling woman, her dark skin looking pale for the Nightborne. Lira adjusted her path to walk by the woman, quietly placing the bottle on the side of a planter as she muttered, “Here, take this.” Without looking at the withdrawing citizen, she continued on through the city with a heart of sorrow.

It was such a beautiful place. High, arching buildings created with elegance and magic, Suramar city was quite the sight to behold. It belied the ugly corruption, the forces that Liraelan and other agents worked in subtlety and silence to combat, to protect the victimized citizens as much as they could without being noticed. The masked rogue passed a patrolling wrathguard as she turned into a main street, her expression clear of the hatred and disgust she felt. Noticing the eyes of an elven guard upon her, Lira gave a respectful nod of silent greeting as she passed.

It angered her. How could they allow the injustices that riddled their city? How could they allow the scourge of the Legion to inhabit their streets? How could they accept such an awful alliance?! Lira realized her hands were tightening into fists as she mused over her fury in her head and she forced herself to return to the aloof posture and neutral expression as she meandered through toward the docks. If she was careful not to be seen she should be able to smuggle some small weaponry and another bottle of arcwine to hand out to the hidden rebellion within the city.

At least there was that, a small beacon of hope. Once enough had been prepared the city itself could potentially rise up against their oppressors. Elisande… and the Legion.

After a mildly paced stroll past the docking shipments, Liraelan made off with five small daggers tucked under her traveling cloak and a sealed bottle without a single suspicious eye falling on her. It was almost easier than when she walked the path of a bandit. Glancing toward a docking ship, she allowed herself a small smirk. She was certainly more skilled now than she was back then.

Crossing through the streets, she deposited her prizes into a masked drop box in a connecting alley before making her way back out of the city. Ducking into the shadows of a shop, Liraelan delved into the familiar darkness as she faded from sight. She had done all she could without notice, it was time to return to the floating city of mages.

~~

Vae’riss peeked into the assassin’s room at the Lounge, seeing the elf sprawled across her bed sideways with her head almost hanging off the edge. A thick, dusty looking tome laid open beside her and a scroll draped open on her torso, making the priestess give her lover a somewhat bemused expression.

“Are you… alright?” she asked, stepping in as she closed the door behind her.

Lira took a deep breath before sighing heavily and sitting up, ignoring the parchment that fell onto the bed. “Fuck if I know, Vae.” she answered wearily, brushing her hair out of her face with a scowl. “I feel like a fuckup.”

Shaking her head, Vae crawled up into the bed beside Lira and rested her head on the rogue’s shoulder. “You’re not a fuckup, Lira. What happened? What’s with the book?”

Glancing at the object in question, she scowled at it and flipped the back cover to make it slam shut, a small burst of dust flying from its pages. “Can’t translate it worth shit. Not even to figure out what it is. Besides fucking ancient, I’m pretty sure it predates the Sundering.” Sighing as she rubbed at her face, Lira scooted off the bed and put the book away in a small chest with various other curiosities and relics. “Maybe I’ll ask Galdriine about it sometime. Not sure how interested he would be, though, since it doesn’t focus on destroying the Legion.”

Vae shrugged, watching Lira secure the chest before shoving it under her bed. “Maybe it holds some long lost secrets on Sargeras and his weaknesses.”

“He’s a titan, Vae, I don’t think they _have_ weaknesses. Besides each other. You know, since Sargeras slaughtered most of the others.”

Hopping off the bed, Vae caught Lira under the arm and started to drag her toward the door. “Come with me! We are going to go find some fun and I am going to make you dance!”

Lira’s hand caught the bedpost and she pulled away, shaking her head slightly. “I don’t feel like it, Vae.”

Vae turned to look up at her with a pout, making her eyes wide and sad as she let her ears droop back some. “But… Lira…”

“No. No no, you are _not_ doing that to me, Vae’riss Moonblade.” Lira scolded, pulling her cloak from the wall hook to drape over the priestess’s head. “You get me into the _worst_ trouble with that fucking face. I’m not having it.”   
  
Pulling the dark fabric from her face, Vae looked up at her with a bigger pout. Lira crossed her arms and glared down at the short Kaldorei, gritting her teeth as Vae stared up at her.

Batting her eyelashes at her, Vae begged, “Pretty please, come have some fun with me?”

“Elune’s fucking tits, Vae, you just can’t stop, can you?” Lira sighed, snatching her cloak back from the priestess as she turned, Vae’riss grinning wide behind her back. “If Gald wasn’t on some fucking mission for the Illidari we could just go hunting. _That_ would make me feel better.”

Biting her lip slightly, Vae’s grin faded as her mood grew somber. “Speaking of… Why haven’t you spoken with your mother, yet?”

Lira’s form grew still as she hung the cloak back up, the atmosphere in the room suddenly feeling heavy. “I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Lira, I know it’s not because she’s a demon hunter, you fervently have no problems with them. What-”

Turning on her heel, Lira turned to face Vae and the priestess’s words faded away, an unfamiliar expression in her lover’s gaze. “Vae, I thought she was _dead_ . My entire family, gone. I’ve been alone for years and I had come to peace with that. But Mother… she’s back, she’s not dead, and I don’t… I don’t know what to _say_ , I don’t know… It’s like this isn’t even real, Vae. I…”

Lira turned back toward the bed and almost dove into it as she yanked the covers over her dark head, the scroll dropping to the floor in the movement. Vae’s crestfallen gaze followed her, catching the threat of tears in the assassin’s eyes before she had fled. “Lira… you can’t hide in here forever.”

Under the blankets, Lira’s pained gaze stared into the darkness as she remained silent. Of course she knew. There was too much to be done to hide away now. But today… today she would escape, pretend Sebanti didn’t exist and Archimonde had never attacked her home. She felt Vae crawl up under the covers beside her, the priestess’s small, soft form pressing against Lira’s back as she hugged her.

~~

A light knock on the door brought Liraelan back to full awareness in the now-stifling heat under her blankets. Yanking them down as she sat up, she glared at the offending door. “What?!” she snapped.

The door cracked open to reveal a bright blue eye behind the shadows, the hint of a pale frown showing through the gap. “Are you finished sulking, yet? We need to speak.”

“I don’t sulk.” she remarked, turning to sit on the edge of the bed. Vae slept on, covered by the rest of the blanket and utterly oblivious to the world. Lira smiled at her softly over her shoulder, feeling somewhat happy in the knowledge that beside the assassin was the only place Vae could sleep so heavily. “What do you want, Gid?”

Gidrael stepped into the room and closed the door before leaning against it. Crossing his arms over his armored chest, he leveled his gaze at the rogue. “Your mother wants to talk to you. Or at least wants to know why you’re avoiding her.”

“Gid, I would much rather just go hunt something with you rather than discuss my issues.”

“Only if you talk while you stab.”

Grumbling under her breath, Lira stood and grabbed her belt and daggers before glaring up at him. Pulling her belt securely around her hips, she remarked, “I’ll just go find Gald and hunt with him. At least he doesn’t care for talking.”

Gidrael stood his ground for a few moments, his cold gaze piercing through the darkness of the room, before he relented with a displeased sigh. “You’re not getting out of this. But go, maybe it’ll help you feel better.” he relented, stepping to the side so she could access the door. She looked up at him with a frown before moving past him to leave. He glanced toward the sleeping priestess, stepping over briefly to pull the blanket over her properly before following after the rogue.

 

~~

 

  * \- - - - - - - -  Went hunting with Gald, lost piece of roleplay scene. Lots of dead demons, messy elves. - - - - - - - - - - -



 

~~

 Liraelan sat on top of the grand gateway of Darnassus eating an apple as she watched workers of various races, mostly kaldorei, set up several tables for Pilgrim’s Bounty. She hadn’t encountered Nightwhisper in almost two weeks and had to wonder if a demon had eaten him. She smiled slightly at the idea as her teeth crunched into the fruit, the sound causing a red-clad pandaren woman to glance up as she passed through the archway below her. Lira flashed her a grin before rolling off the edge and dropping to land in a crouch, reaching out to snag another apple before a hand came down sharply on the back of hers.

 Taken aback and somewhat insulted, Lira glared up at Luceris before realizing it was him. “What was that for?!”

 Gesturing the pandaren to continue over to the busy area, the druid frowned. “Those are not for you. Besides, you should finish the one you have.”

 “That one was green!”

 “I don’t care. Either help set up or don’t, but you’re not nicking any food before it’s all ready.” he scolded, crossing his arms at her.

 Mimicking his posture, she huffed at him in indignation before stomping off, his low chuckle following her. Catching her shoulder, Luc held her still so she’d look back. Frowning, she asked, “What now?”

 “I just wanted to let you know that Lais and I have left Val’sharah for now. Things there are getting a little much and I don’t like to see her so stressed out. Plus, if he’s going to be stalking you in the Isles perhaps it’s safer for her back home.”

 Guilt resurfacing in her chest, she turned to look at him as she brushed her hair back from her eyes. “I haven’t seen Sebanti in a while. I don’t know what he’s up to but I can’t imagine he already left again. He made it seem like he was sticking around for awhile this time. I’m keeping an ear to the ground.”

 He sighed, reaching up to ruffle her dark hair as she made a face at him. “I know you do what you can, Lira. You know I’m protective.”

 She smirked, scooting his palm off her head. “Big brother bear, I know.”

 He laughed at that, a warm smile on his face. “Yeah. Sometimes. When the bear is necessary. You take care, kid, and quit stealing apples.”

 Crunching another bite out of the one in her hand, she winked at him as she backed away. Luc shook his head at her before turning back to the preparations and Lira spun on her heel to walk down the path toward Vae’riss’ home. The door was locked, though that never stopped her. Taking her small picking kit out of a pouch at the back of her belt, she quickly did away with the obstacle as the lock clicked open at her practiced touch.

 The small home was curtained shut, the small form of her priestess lying under the thin covers. Putting her kit away, Lira quietly removed her belt, knives and boots before carefully crawling up next to Vae. A small whimper cut through the priestess’s sleep and Lira frowned. Gently pulling the blanket away, the darkness hid  nothing from the assassin’s kaldorei sight. Her eyes widened at the almost savage display of cuts and lashes across her back. Pulling the cover further down revealed more welts and bruises.

 “Vae!” Lira snapped, reaching up to shake her shoulder but hesitating. “Vae, wake up!”

 With a grumble, the small elf gingerly turned her head to look up at Lira, the remnants of exhaustion still evident in her eyes. “What, Lira?”

 “Who the fuck did this to you?” A sudden feeling of terror came over her as she asked, “It wasn’t… Sebanti, was it?”

 Vae moved to glance down at herself, wincing again and holding a hand to the bruised side of her neck. “No, it wasn’t Sebanti. I think in his mind he reasons that he has a chance with you so long as he doesn’t harm me. I had a fun evening, is all. I was too worn out to bother with healing… barely made it in bed. I’m tired. Woke up about an hour ago, I think, to clean up and change the bedding. I just want to sleep.”

 Petting Vae’s hair out of her face, Lira frowned. “He can delude himself all he wants. But you didn’t answer my question. Who did this to you?”  
  
“Just an acquaintance from the tavern.” Vae grumbled, pulling the blankets back up with a wince. “We had a brief misunderstanding from a previous meeting and he… came to talk to me.”

 Raising an eyebrow, Lira’s tone was dry as she gazed down at her. “Talk? This looks just short of torture, Vae’riss.”

 “I mean, it didn’t _start_ with sex, he came to get information about a missing package he suspected I was involved in. Bad timing and such is all-”

 “So he threatened you.”

 Wincing at Lira’s tone, Vae bit her lip slightly. “...Technically?”

 Vae did not like the face Lira made as her tone became casual, the shift of her body on the bed bringing her up into a close snuggle as she looked intently at the priestess. “You should walk me through his little greeting to you.”

 “Lira, truly, I am fine-” she began to protest before a single finger pressed to her lips.

 “No no, I _insist_ . You said he was missing something, yes? I know you offered to have me help, because that is what you do. You are physically and emotionally _inclined_ to help people. So… tell me.”

 Biting her lip as she gaze up at Lira’s cool gaze, Vae seemed to debate on pouting her way out of this before deciding it wouldn’t work. A short prayer to Elune for her lover’s mercy sounded in her mind as she talked. “I was sitting against my tree, you know the one… and I heard rustling in the leaves above me. After I sort of demanded that he show himself, he did. I recognized him from the tavern, he had been waiting for a courier that apparently never showed. Due to the timing, he suspected I might have been involved. Of course, that’s ridiculous, but one can never be too cautious-”  
  
“How did he approach you, exactly?”

 Vae’s ears wilted back slightly as she answered, “He dropped down from the tree to put me between him and it and… ended up putting a blade to my throat.”

 “See, that’s the kind of behavior I don’t tolerate.” Lira remarked, sitting up in the bed as she moved toward her things. “Name?”

 “Lira, can’t you just lay with me and not go all assassin for now? I just… we had fun and it would be nice if you would… stay.”

 Lira looked back over to the bed, her gaze meeting the pleading silver eyes as Vae watched her. Her hand paused on her belt and she sighed, shoving it back onto the table before stalking silently over to the bed. Curling back up next to the priestess, Lira scooped a careful arm around Vae’s waist and nuzzled her face against her soft white hair. “What is his name?”

 “Promise you’ll stay for the day.”

 “I promise you, Vae’riss Moonblade, that I will wait and stay with you for the day.”

 Sighing, Vae said, “Daerodane.”


	2. Duskfallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure continues, hunting abounds. Snarky rogues and broody illidari. Reunions, new meetings.

Sebanti had obtained the blades. Liraelan still had not seen a single pale hair of his head, but she heard whispers in the Hall about his triumph. The most skilled and valorous champions from the various forces of Azeroth had been chosen to recover and wield powerful weapons. Except in the darkness of the hidden vaults, the more cutthroat and clever had been chosen. The Shadowblade himself had recovered the Kingblades, bringing them to bear against the commanding forces of the Legion. Thus far the Fangs of the Devourer had yet to be located but Sebanti…

He had won the Dreadblades and the weight of what was known of them bore down on Liraelan as she listened to the mutterings. Fate and Fortune in the hands of a man like that…

She flicked another throwing knife at the target dummy in the arena-like area of the Halls, a few pairs of other agents training and sparring together around her. She was lounged back in a chair she had moved from the bar area, her boots propped up on another target as her silver eyes gazed toward the dummy without seeing it. A casual flick of her wrist sent another blade into the canvas and straw, echoed by an answering thud of someone else’s throwing knife sinking into the target under her feet. Glancing at it as her mind returned to her, Lira appeared almost bored.

“Those fancy blades of yours can’t teach you how to throw, apparently.”

The sound of his boots came closer and Sebanti crouched beside her, a cruel grin on his face. “So, you heard the news. Are you… sulking, Bladesinger?”

Sliding the last of her throwing knives out of her thigh sheaths, Lira twirled it idly around in her gloved fingers as she watched the scant light from the lanterns glint in the metal. “I don’t sulk, Nightwhisper.” Glancing over at his gloating face with distaste, she glared at Sebanti as her own eyes confirmed the weapons now present on his belt. For him the blades had taken on a jagged and ruthless appearance, the cruel silver metal darkening along the edges, the handguard spiked all the way up along the pommel. They seemed to emanate a greenish fire, though she knew it was the aura of power it held. Or the curse, if she bid into superstition. Curse or no, they definitely made her feel uneasy.

He watched her appraise them patiently, his wrists resting on his knees as he continued to crouch beside her. When she looked away he seemed curious, ignoring the onlooking agents as he focused entirely on her. “I know you better than that, Lira. You’re not jealous, are you?”  
  
“I don’t need gaudy swords to help me slay demons, Sebanti.” she remarked loudly, dropping the chair forward as her feet hit the floor. Standing to stride over to her target dummy as his eyes followed her, she retrieved her knives and returned them to their sheaths behind her thigh. “But I suppose not everyone can stand their own in a battlefield without some sort of augmentation. Though I have to wonder what else you have to make up for if you can’t even fight without enchanted blades. But congratulations on your prize, Nightwhisper.”

His rebuttal was quiet, the elf standing to stride over to her as she turned away from the dummy, his face looming darkly over hers as she froze in place, her hands automatically moving to the hilts of her daggers. His usual smirk was gone, a small and malicious smile in its place as he gazed down at her. “The only prize I have ever cared about claiming, Bladesinger,” he muttered to her, his voice for her ears alone, “has yet to be won. And I assure you… I refuse to lose.”

Before she could exhale the breath she didn’t know she was holding he had turned away and strode out of the sparring chamber, leaving behind staring agents and a slightly unnerved Liraelan, though she refused to admit it. Loosening the tight grip her hands had on her daggers, she sighed and scowled at his retreating back. The Dreadblades seemed to glint at her as if taunting her and she gritted her teeth before storming over to the bounty board.

Perhaps some demon hunting would lighten her mood.

~~

Deep within the shadows of Felsoul Hold Liraelan’s wicked silver daggers ripped a path through the tainted grounds. Far behind her laid slain wrathguards and two eredar, a third one struggling in close combat with the furious elf. He snarled curses and threats in Eredun at her, his rage growing with every jagged slash she added to his body as she danced and skirted around his spells. Her blades dripped his dark blood as she prolonged his death, watching his resistance against her slow gradually as exhaustion and poison dragged into him.

“Is this the might of your Legion, eredar?” she taunted, grinning as she lashed out with her left blade, flicking a deep cut across his right palm and scattering the dark magic he had been trying to form.

Before he could snarl a response a rending pair of warglaives dropped down on his shoulders as a shadowed illidari pounced from the cliff above, his tattoos glinting with power as his blades gave the one-sided brawl a brutal finish.

Flicking the demon’s blood from her daggers, Liraelan gazed coolly up at Galdriine as she masked her excitement for seeing him, watching him stab one of his glaives rather hatefully into the eredar’s corpse. “I had that kill in the bag, fun-ruiner.”

He flashed her a brief grin behind his mask as he removed it, stooping briefly to kiss her. She pushed up on her toes to prolong it, the lack of any other bodily contact both frustrating and amusing her. Pulling his face away as he replaced the mask, he backed up and retrieved his glaive. “Time to make more of them fall. Come, Liraelan.”

Without waiting for her response he turned and sprinted off, knowing she would follow. Grinning as she watched him for the briefest moment, her feet raced after him as he ducked into one of the fortress ships dug into the ground. She darted around his short conflict with a mo’arg, almost wanting to feel pity for the mutated little monster as she intercepted a sorceress before her dark magic could fly toward the illidari. Lira’s fight with this eredar went much faster than the previous, ending the demon’s life with a savage slash to her throat as the sound of more hooves approached from the floor above.

Almost back to back the kaldorei fought against the wrathguards and eredar that had rushed to stop them, the rogue almost instinctively ducking under Gald’s wider swings as felsteel clashed with felsteel and her much smaller blades made quick work of her spellcasting foes. When the elves were the last fighters standing, Lira barely feeling the burning tingle of demonic blood on her bare skin in the rush of combat, he put one of his glaives into the holder strapped to his back with a soft click so he could have a free hand to sort through various items strewn across a small platform.

“Go open those soul cages.” he instructed as he inspected the ritual objects before him.

Cutting the cape from one of the slain eredar, Lira nodded in assent as she cleaned her blades. Sheathing them, she instead pulled out her lockpicking kit and tossed the cape away before striding to one of several enchanted cages hanging from the ceiling and climbing up the bars like a ladder. The foul aura of the things made her feel sick as the captured souls inside howled in misery and the desperate longing for release. Making short work of the rather simple lock, the spell of containment broke and the door burst open. Lira gasped at the sensation of the souls rushing past her, a mixture of their emotions washing over her before she dropped to the ground. She glanced over at Gald as he seemed to be sorting through the objects and making sense of the ritual’s intent before walking over to the next cage.

It didn’t take long to finish, eight cages hanging open and countless souls freed to disperse to where they belonged. She leaned against the altar where he studied, the markings and runes carved into the material making absolutely no sense to her eyes. “Anything new?”

He growled lightly in response, piling the items up in one scoop of his hand before drawing his own rune around them and walking away. Lira watched curiously as his magic sparked to life and set the altar ablaze in felfire. Blinking past the verdant flames, she pushed away from where she leaned and trotted to catch up with him.

Pausing at the doorway, Gald gazed out at the grounds as she moved to stand beside him. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering at his sudden idleness.

“I’ve hunted alongside your mother a few times. She fights with the same fury you possess.” he finally spoke, still looking away from the rogue as she seemed to wilt slightly in shame. “It has been nearly a month since that other rogue revealed you and you have not been near her since. Why? Are you ashamed of her?”

Eyes wide, Lira looked up from the ground to almost glare at him. “Of course I’m not! Why wo-”

“Then stop acting like it. Go talk to your mother before I drag you to her side.” he interrupted, finally looking down at her with an expression that brooked no argument. Without waiting for agreement or refusal, Galdriine walked away and vanished into the shadows of the nearby cliffs, the former mage as stealthy as almost any rogue Liraelan had met.

She sighed, resisting the urge to brush her bangs back. The motion would only smear the blood that always seemed to coat her after a hunt with him. Glancing back at their work, his felfire still alight on the altar, she thought about his words as she pulled a small runestone from a pouch at her belt. Rubbing her thumb over it as it activated, the rogue soon shimmered away from Felsoul Hold to return to her inn room high up in Dalaran.

~~

Several hours later Liraelan and her gear was scrubbed clean after a visit to the city’s bathhouse, the rogue walking almost hesitantly through Azsuna as she headed toward Illidari Perch. She was rather amused by the local nickname for the demon hunter’s camp on one of several frontlines in the Isles. Ashirae had held a rather solid routine back when Lira would stalk her and the assassin was depending on it being the same.

Her lips quirked up in a bittersweet smile as she saw the illidari she was seeking taking a brief rest under the canopy propped up in the middle of the bit of ruins the Illidari had set fortifications around. Biting her lip nervously as her footfalls paused, Lira watched her for a few moments as her mother cleaned and sharpened her blades. Ashirae’s warglaives, like those of many others, seemed to be a personal choice. They looked a little longer in length than Galdriine’s but much thinner, giving her more reach and speed. Lira had picked up one of Gald’s glaives before, the large weapon feeling entirely too heavy and unwieldy in her grasp to even entertain the notion of trying to fight with them. Her mother’s looked lighter, meant for quicker and more efficient fighting than his brutal blades, the felsteel a rather dark metal that thinned to a shade of blue at the edges.

With a deep breath Lira forced herself to walk toward the canopy as her mother set down her second glaive, the illidari looking up as the assassin’s shadow fell over her before being cut off by the canopy’s shade. Neither of them spoke as Lira gazed down at Ashirae, words failing the rogue as the corners of her eyes started to prick with the threat of tears.

Standing with the same sweeping elegance she had always held, Ashirae crossed the short distance between her and her daughter and embraced the shaking elf as Lira buried her face into the brown fabric draped around her mother’s shoulders and neck, her arms moving to hug her back as she fought not to cry. Ashirae reached up with one hand to stroke her fingers through Lira’s hair, the familiar motion of comfort breaking the assassin’s restraint as she sobbed quietly into her mother.

“Shhhh, there there, little one.” Ashirae muttered as she held her youngest and sole surviving child. “I’m here.”

“I thought you were dead.” Lira let out in a strained whisper, her voice hitching in a sob. “I was so afraid you weren’t real. You’ve been dead for so long I just… I couldn’t…” Her arms tightened around her mother as she tried to catch her breath and force the tears back. By Elune she couldn’t even remember the last time she had cried. “I’m sorry, Mother.”

“Lira, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Ashirae reassured her, holding her calmly as she rested her cheek against the top of Lira’s head.

_I have everything to be sorry for._ she thought, hugging tighter before taking a deep breath and pulling away. The moment felt so surreal. “You were about to go back to the Fel Hammer, right?” she asked, rubbing her face dry as she looked up at her.

Ashirae gave a soft smile, stroking Lira’s hair behind an ear. “I was, but I don’t have to. Where do you go when not on the field?”

“I have a room in Dalaran if you want to just go… talk, or something.”

“I would love that.”

~~

Nawat flapped down onto her waiting arm as Liraelan lounged in Dalaran, her form sprawled over the length of a bench as she watched the passerby. Petting the crow affectionately as she took the letter he had for her, she cracked it open to read it.

 

_Wolf -_

_We have located your requests. The package in question is in Stormwind. It is currently protected and its guards understand that it and the area is not to be touched._

_The man in question will be traveling into Ashenvale from Felwood in approximately two days time. He has been given a job leading him on this path. Take it or leave it._

_I thank you again for your past assistance. Hunt well._

_-Lupes_

  

Smirking as she read, Lira tossed the small paper into the nearby torchfire as she stood. “It’s time to go to Stormwind, my dear friend.”

~~

Liraelan pulled her traveling cloak around her form, cutting out the chill of the seaside city as she approached an area in Old Town. The buildings were, truly, old by human standards, looming close together with thin, dark alleyways weaving through the district.

She followed a subtle trail toward the canal, her eyes falling on a young, ragged looking boy leaning against the cold stone of a building as he tossed pebbles into the nearby water. Her footsteps slowed as he looked up.

“Oi, watch the cats.” he remarked in a voice on the edge of puberty.

“Cats can yowl as they please, the moon cares not.” she answered with disinterest, continuing her stride to walk past him. He pushed off the wall and trotted away, his task fulfilled.

Rounding the corner he had been guarding, the hair on the back of her head stood up as her eyes fell onto the scene. The cobblestone was felscorched, a blackened corpse lying prone nearby a storm grate. Her nose crinkled at the stench and she pulled her cloak over her mouth and nose to filter it.

Her eyes scanned the area for any useful details before she crouched, peering into the metal grate to spot the package of interest. Sighing, she dropped lower as she reached her hand through to grab it, the parcel just out of her reach as she squirmed her shoulder through as far as she could fit. Fingertips brushed it but not enough to claim hold. With an annoyed growl, she retreated long enough to pull out a dagger and reached back in, carefully scooting the item closer with the flat of her blade.

Withdrawing from the grate, she slid her blade back into its sheath as she looked curiously down at the package. She wondered what it was, to be worth all this. Looking up as she stood, the item tucked under her arm and shrouded by her cloak, Lira stride silently out and away from the shady district as she went to complete her task.

Looking up at the sky, she smirked. Next was a jaunt into Ashenvale.

~~

Liraelan crouched low, her eyes trailing over the subtle marks of traffic in the dirt, the dim, gloomy atmosphere of Felwood pressing down on her. She hated it here. She froze slightly, hidden among the dark, twisted roots near the southern path out of the area as the sound of paws on grass drifted up to her. Sitting perfectly still, she held her breath as the dark form of a saber and its rider came into view, racing through the tainted forest toward the edge of Ashenvale.The saber’s silver stripes glinted in the sparse lighting as a dark, barely armored Kaldorei leaned over in the saddle, veering them away from the trail as they crossed it, traveling right past the hidden rogue. She could have reached over and touched his long, violet hair as the wind pulled it away from his face.

Grinning, she waited a few heartbeats before moving off of the root, her feet swift as she followed the fresh tracks of the saber into the more vibrant forest of Ashenvale. Lira took a slightly more direct route past a tree as she broke out into a full sprint to cut him off before he reached a waypoint, leaping high as she jumped over the saber to grab the unsuspecting night elf. Bringing him to the ground with her, she threw a sleeping dart at the saber before it could turn to attack, rolling to pin him under her.

Pressing him on top of the blade that rested on his back, she moved her leg to block his access to the other’s hilt as she rested the curve of her dagger against his throat, her eyes appraising him as she sat across his stomach. “So you’re the foolish Daerodane who threatened my Vae’riss.” she remarked, her voice matter-of-fact as she gazed down at him. Watching the surprise melt from his expression, there was a split moment before he reacted where she couldn't help but think that he was a rather attractive elf.

Then he snarled up at her, canines bared as he reflexively started to resist against her hold, freezing when the sword on his back dug into his skin. Lira watched his expression slowly change as his growling ceased, his primary instincts giving away to reason as she patiently waited, blade resting against his dark throat. She felt his body slightly relax against the ground as he gave a long, annoyed exhale, glaring defiantly up at her shadowed face. “That’s one way to say hello. What the fuck do you want with me?” he demanded, a hint of a growl purring at the edge of his voice.

Lira let a satisfied smirk curl her lip as she narrowed her eyes. He was not accustomed to such an encounter. “I thought mentioning Vae’riss would have tipped you off.” She leaned her head forward to grin down at him tauntingly. “Believe I exist, now, pretty boy?”

“Vae’riss? You mean the little prieste…” Realization dawned on his face and he settled completely against the grass. A slow, insidious grin crossed his lips before he bared a sickeningly beautiful smile up at her. Something about it chilled her. “Oh, of course. Tell me… how _is_ the little Vae’riss? We parted so soon last time.”

Her smile of triumph faded slightly as she scowled at him. “Her pale skin really makes a fine contrast for bruises and welts.” Her eyes narrowed further as she leaned back, assessing him. Lira wondered why Vae had seemed so protective over this male in particular. With an almost disappointed sigh, she withdrew her dagger and, standing, remarked, “The only thing sparing you is the fact that the only negative thing she had to say about you was that you threatened her.”

As she moved he pulled a dagger on her, the blade singing through the air in an arc toward the muscle of her thigh. Lira leaped back easily, ready for a counterattack as soon as she moved, earning a growl of annoyance from the other elf. She drew her second dagger from its sheath and stood at the ready as she grinned eagerly. He was slow, likely not in the habit of regular fights. Noting the scent of alcohol in his skin, she amended her thoughts to possible _bar_ fights. “I would love to play this game with you, handsome, but I have a bit of news you might want to hear before you _attempt_ to skewer me.” Pulling a small, tightly furled scroll out of her belt, Lira offered it to him. “I tracked down that which you seek. For Vae’riss, not for you.”

She watched his eyes scour over her in silence, either counting her blades or appreciating the view, she didn’t care to know which. He finally looked at the scroll as he lowered his blades, feigning a relaxed stance. Lira silently approved, noticing his readiness. “And I’m supposed to take your word for it.” he snipped. Gesturing toward a nearby large mushroom behind her, he continued, “Why not drop it off there, you can fuck off… and I will have a look. Maybe.”

Smirking, she wiggled the paper back and forth. “Oh, I’m not done with you, yet. I found the courier, first, in an alley, blackened and charred by demon fire. The package was slid into a clever nook nearby the corpse to ensure it wasn’t discovered by passerby.” She scowled, then, regarding him with suspicion. “I don’t believe in chance. I believe whomever commanded the demon wanted what was supposed to be delivered to _you_.”

Daero’s eyes narrowed, looking thoughtful. “You already know more than you should. Or you’re bluffing. Though…” He eyed her as he seemed to measure her words and the scroll in her hand. “demons would make sense. That isn’t what I wanted to hear, though.” He slid one blade into its sheath, the steel scraping slowly and smoothly into place before he reached his free hand out for the scroll.

Keeping her guard up, wary of him despite his words, she handed the scroll to him before speaking again. “If it hasn’t been retrieved in a day’s time, I’m moving it to a new spot and then _you_ will have to find _me_ for the new location. I don’t know what is in it but I don’t want it in one place for too long if the first courier died for their efforts.” She pointed the tip of a blade at him threateningly, watching his face. “If I find out you have any Legion connections, nothing will save you.”

He froze, eyes focused on the dagger. “For someone so upset at me for a threat, you like to dish them out yourself, don’t you?”

She grinned, fangs flashing in the dim moonlight. “I’m an assassin, threats are just part of my arsenal. The beauty of _my_ threats are that I back them up with the fact that I will not hesitate to kill you.”

A grin of his own slipped across his lips once again, his head canting gently to one side. “In that we agree, at the very least. So you didn’t open the package?”

“I did not. It’s not my business and I don’t want it to be my business. I only found it to protect Vae, since I can’t prowl around Darnassus to make sure you didn’t come back to harm her when _you_ didn’t succeed in finding it. As much as I would love to have the spare time to protect her, I have bigger things to flay.” She lowered her dagger. “Besides, I enjoy being owed favors by able-bodied smugglers.”

Daero’s eyebrows arched upward and Lira took satisfaction in his disapproval. “Owed… favors? I didn’t ask you for this. As for your little priestess friend… she wasn’t truly harmed. At least not when I left her. If I really thought she’d stolen my parcel, crueler hands than mine would have already seen her dead by now. As you’ve seen. My guess is that the ‘courier’ you found was actually a thief. A second body is laying at the bottom of a lake somewhere.”

Lira narrowed her eyes. The casual reference to violence didn't unnerve her, she interacted with rogues like him every day. There was just something about it that reminded her of Sebanti and she didn't like it. “Then why harass her if you didn’t think you’d actually glean anything from her? And anyway, I’d say you would owe me a favor, considering how important is seemed to be that you find it, according to her.” With a slight frown, her eyes flicked down him with almost disdain. “Of course, knowing _your_ type, that was only a tool to make her more excitable.”

He snorted and spinned his blade once before sheathing it as well. “Don’t act like you know me, or my ‘type,’ assassin. It’s not my fault your friend was all too eager to be fucked ragged outside the temple in the forest citadel.” Daero strode past Lira as she turned to keep an eye on him, the darker elf moving to lift a foot up against the large, oversized mushroom at the base of the tree, lacing his boot. He then leaned forward to pull his long curtain of violet hair over one shoulder before trying to look over his shoulder at his back. “The only thing I _owe_ you is a new scar, friend. How deep does it look?”

She scowled, gritting her teeth. “Don’t you dare judge her, smuggler. Sex can be part of her pastimes as much as blades are part of ours. And anyway, it’s barely a cut. If you had a proper sheath for it you would have been unscathed. I don’t think it will even scar. And good luck finding empty space on _my_ back even if it would have.”

“Oh, felflame and ashes, assassin.” Daero groaned with an annoyed chuckle. “Judge her?” He turned back to her, letting his hair fall back down his spine as his hands rested on his hips. “I don’t judge her.” His tone changed as a knowing grin crept over his face as he gazed at Lira. “I _loved_ using that perfect little body. Mmm… how she moaned for me. Between you and I…” he leaned toward her, dropping his voice into a cruel whisper as Lira fought the urge to step away, “I think she loved the pain more than even I did. No, I don’t judge her.” His voice changed again, tone becoming flat as his amber eyes glowed down at her. “I judge you for some misplaced sense of guardianship. What are you, her mother?” With that, he sat against the mushroom, hand resting on the pommel of the blade at his side.

Lira gave a short laugh, sheathing her daggers with a shake of her head. “I would hope not, considering I’ve had her, too. No, she’s one of my oldest friends.” Crossing her arms, she gazed down at him as he lounged. “And yes, she enjoys pain. We all have our little quirks.”

Daero sat there silently as he gazed up at her for a short time. He clicked his tongue against his cheek and nodded. “I mean your friend no harm. Let’s get that out of the way. I knew she had nothing to do with my parcel before I tasted her. Now, as to any favors I might owe you, imagined or otherwise. I assume you know how this works?” He ran a hand through his hair pulling long strands from his face.

She smirked, tapping the fingers of her right hand against her left arm. “Yeah, I hang it over your head for as long as I want to. I’m feeling particularly spiteful, I’m sure you understand.” she remarked, eyes flashing silver in the darkness.

He grinned at her, a warm chuckle purring out of his throat as he watched her with gently slanted eyes. “I think I like you, actually. My type of dubious. And beauty to match.” He wasn’t subtle as his gaze almost caressed down her body, the hungry look making her suppress a shiver of discomfort. “However, there is one other matter to attend to.” He jerked his head toward his feline companion, dark body still lying in the grass nearby. “You didn’t kill her, I can hear her breathing. But Vesani did nothing to you. I assume it’s a sleeping dart and that she will be fine?” His words tilted up into a query before he continued in almost a growl. “That needs to be the right answer.”

Lira gave a slight nod. “Of course. I don’t harm creatures unless I have to, which is why I took her out of play. I wasn’t chancing her being trained to protect her master.” She tossed him a second dart filled with a liquid almost as violet as his hair, which he snatched out of the air. “That will wake her. Besides maybe a little grogginess, she’ll be fine.”

He watched her as he brought it to his nose, sniffing it gently. With a short nod he turned his gaze to inspect the slumbering form of his sabercat. “Yeah…” Putting the dart away, he smoothed his hands over his knees, drumming his fingers against the hard leather. “That’s going to cost you an apology, as sweet as you are to care for her well being.”

“I’m not going to apologize for being pragmatic.” she remarked dryly, though somewhat amused. “It’s not like I’m asking you to thank me. That’s ridiculous.” She sighed, dropping her hands to rest at her hips as she shifted her weight slightly. “It didn’t sound like anything you might have been transporting was damaged, either.”

Daero stood with a casual grace, fiddling idly to readjust the straps of his armor, cinching down his pauldrons. As casually as one might brandish a broom, he drew his blades as he exhaled a composed breath in her direction. “Apologize for sinking poison into Vesani. _Please_.”

She narrowed her eyes, watching him advance with an increasingly amused expression. “Hmm. You’re a sweetheart. Fine. I apologize for putting the pretty kitty to sleep.” she offered, an expression of almost approval on her face.

He stopped in his tracks, his face lighting with gentle surprise. He opened his mouth, hesitating a moment before chuckling. “I… hmm. Didn’t think that would be so easy. Honestly, I wanted to test your mettle a bit. But Vesani thanks you, apology accepted.” In a flourish of glinting steel, he twirled his blades as he returned them in smooth, practiced motions to their sheaths. “Tell me, guardian of Vae’riss, if I’m going to owe you a favor, in any form, I’ll need to know what to call you. And yes, that’s me honoring whatever code you adhere to. I will help you _once_ , should you need it.”

She smirked at his frivolous blade twirling, her gaze settling on his face after his blades were put away. “Oh, if you wanted to test me, you should have picked something other than the cause of an animal. I am rather stubborn about many things, but that is not one of them.” She reached a hand out to him in a mildly friendly gesture. “Liraelan is my name. I already know yours.”

He eyed her offered hand, hesitating only a moment before slipping his fingers along her palm, then her wrist, traveling along her forearm where he clasped firmly. Stepping silently over the grass as he drew closer with the motion, a solicitous smile crept over his lips and she instantly regretted letting him touch her. “Then again… I could repay you here and now, and be done with it. I can promise to make it worth your while, Lira.” His voice dripped with playful seduction, his tone masked in a heavy, husky insinuation as his hand continued up her arm, curling around her bicep as he stepped closer still. He slid a leg between her thighs as he pulled her in against his hip. “Why wait for a rainy day when we can fuck here and draw a clean slate?”

Lira gave him a sickly sweet smile as she raised her face toward his, her mouth barely a breath away from his own. “You don’t charm me as easily as Vae, pretty boy.” She moved, fast, a thin hidden blade pulled out of her belt to press against his lower stomach, tip ducking just under his beltline. “I suggest you move your leg.”

Daero winced slowly, biting his lip over a grin as he lifted his chin, gaze turned skyward. He pulled his hands away from her, palms facing her in a placating gesture. He moved his leg back, thigh grinding against her briefly and very much intentionally. “Fair enough.” He grinned, gazing back down at her. “Kitty has claws… I understand. Can’t blame a rogue for trying. It’s a shame… much more exciting way to settle a debt than smuggling goods.” He winked quickly, taking a step back. “If you change your mind, you _obviously_ know how to find me.”

Lira smirked to hide the fact that he had unnerved her, unmoving from her stance as she put the small blade away, watching him carefully. “As fun as you may think you are, my bed is already full.” She brushed her bangs back slightly before resting her hand on her hip again, almost tauntingly. “And yes. I think will find you useful for something other than smuggling. I don’t need a smuggler, just another rogue.”

“Who needs a bed? If it’s full, why not move to the floor?” He adjusted his belt, rubbing his fingers against his exposed pelvis to remove the sensation of her blade from his skin. “Give my regards to Vae’riss. I do hope she’s well.”

She rolled her eyes, sighing lightly. “I didn’t mean a literal- ugh. You’re going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you?” She crossed her arms, her gaze almost exasperated. “And I’ll let her know you said hello. I’d ask you to be a little less brutal on her next time, but she bruises easily regardless.” With a quick grin, she leaned forward to brush her fingertips up along the underside of his chin. She couldn't help it, she had to taunt him. “I’ll be in touch, pretty boy.”

Daero’s hand flashed up and snatched her wrist before she could move away, his grip firm. “Call me pretty boy again, Lira. I dare you.” He flashed a dangerous, daring grin as his other hand gripped her belt, fingers brushing against her skin. “You keep taunting and I’ll bite.”

She blinked in surprise, her wide gaze on the hand gripping her wrist. “Huh. One point for the smuggler.” She flashed him a smile, yanking her hand away and pushing him back with a hand against his chest. “I run with the Illidari, handsome, you don’t intimidate me.” With a grin she backed away from his reach and shimmered out of sight, the glow of her eyes giving him a wink before she vanished completely.

She didn't go far, the assassin creeping silently away as he stood there for a moment before moving to rouse his cat. Leaning against the back of a tree, she rubbed at her face as she felt herself start to shake. His touch was far too familiar, though it lacked the malice Sebanti held when he stole away her personal space.

She needed to go. Get away from the outskirts of Felwood and this rogue and… everything.

She needed a drink.


	3. Captain Moonbrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something's not quite right.

While Winter’s Veil was full tilt in the cities of the Alliance, Liraelan found her own little holidays. Visiting Vae’riss here and there between her missions, she mostly found herself on the field with her mother or Galdriine, sometimes even both. Gald eventually figured out how to sabotage the rituals and, with Ashirae’s prior knowledge as a priestess, they managed to cause the ships to purify for a time, rendering them unsuitable for the foul magic until it wore off. Not as grand a scale as Gald would have prefered, but it was still causing setbacks.

Lira wondered sometimes if his flair for the dramatic was because he had once been a mage.

Ashirae was occasionally not seen for a few days at a time, due to training initiate illidari in the Fel Hammer. When she didn’t have her own missions or tasks, however, she spent her free time with her daughter and the occasional member of what Ashirae had started calling ‘the pack.’ She and Gid got on well enough and she adored Vae’riss, who would shrug innocently at the assassin when another telling mark from the smuggler was noticed. Lira would often sit quietly as she sharpened her daggers, listening to the pair talk about various things. Usually Vae telling Ashirae about some particularly foolhardy story featuring her.

Best of all, she never saw Sebanti for more than five minutes at a time.

Things even progressed in leaps and bounds in Suramar. Liraelan was one of several present when the Arcan’dor was stabilized and the Nightfallen were restored to their former glory, the features and withdrawal of the withered gone from them. Now, with a massive obstacle vanquished, a major push on the Nightwell could truly begin.

With Galdriine elsewhere on a mission, Liraelan could think of nothing better than celebrating with Vae’riss.

A quick visit to Darnassus revealed that the priestess was not home. Sighing as she kicked around a small rock on the path outside, she looked up at a passing sentinel and gave a brief wave as she thought. The sentinel glanced at her curiously, a silver moon charm glinting in the light as her head turned. Grinning suddenly as she got an idea, Lira took off toward a gently lit home not far from the back of the city, engulfed by a tight grouping of small trees.

Knocking gently on the door, she rocked back and forth on her feet as she waited. Before long it opened, a rather weary looking kaldorei gazing down at her. Rubbing at his unshaven face, Anisaris sighed. “Lira, I was almost asleep.”

“You’d be asleep faster if you’d just put the book down.” she remarked, somewhat smug as he gave her a guilty-looking smile. 

“I guess that is my fault.” he admitted. Brushing back violet bangs, the mage stepped back and opened his door. “Are you visiting or asking a favor?”

It was Lira’s turn to smile guiltily up at him as she entered. “Could, uh, could you send me to Stormwind? I want to visit Vae and she’s likely there.”

Closing the door behind her, Ani walked over to a cabinet near his rather ruffled bed. Three books were strewn open on the covers and she could tell there were at least two more covered up, a sheet of parchment sitting on the bedside table. “I’ll get you to Stormwind, no worries. Have you been doing well?”

Lira suddenly remembered that he didn’t know about Sebanti. Watching the mage shuffle through his supplies, she wondered what it would be like to not have knowledge of that particular shadow. A wistful smile crossed her lips briefly before she answered, “I’ve been alright. The Isles has been good for keeping my combat skills sharp but I haven’t had time to look into any relic hunting. Next time I’m in Suramar I’ll nick some books for you from the nobles in the citadel.”

Perking up with interest, his amber eyes peeked over his shoulder as he pulled out a small wooden box. “That would be great! Just don’t get yourself hurt. If you can… maybe something on their time dilation magic?”

Smiling warmly, Lira nodded once. “I’ll do what I can, Ani.”

Setting the box back into the cabinet, he closed it back up before turning to face her. “You’re the best, Lira.” She darted forward to close the distance, suddenly hugging the mage tightly as he looked down at her in surprise, a blush crossing his face. “W-what’s this for?”

“I never express how much I appreciate you, Ani. Thank you.”

His arms circled her shoulders as he hugged her back, his face against her hair. “Don’t worry about it, Lir. You bring me enough books, I know how much you care.” Ruffling her blue hair playfully, he pulled away. “Let’s get you to Vae before someone else can claim her, hmm?” He activated the stone as his magic swirled around it, arcane energy caressing against her skin as a portal manifested before them. “Have fun, be safe.”

“Always and rarely.” she quipped with a smirk, looking up at him with a grin before stepping into the portal.

Anisaris watched with a spark of sadness in his gaze as the portal gradually faded, the stone in his hand spent of energy and now truly just a stone. Exhaling a wistful sigh, he tossed it onto his nearby table and moved to collect the books on his bed.

Liraelan finished her step at the top of the Mage Tower in Stormwind, the various mages and students milling about studying and discussing whatever as they ignored the presence of yet another person. She made her silent way out, trotting down the spiraling stairs until she reached the wide courtyard of the Mage District. Moving quickly, the assassin left the bustling and cheerful city as she headed down into Elwynn Forest.

The tavern was lively as ever, its occupants dancing and drinking to the holidays. Weaving around the crowd, Lira’s eyes settled on the small, bright shock of white amongst the dancers. Vae danced with a draenei, the shaman’s slender hands on Vae’s hips to guide her into an imitation of the draenei’s exotic dance. Lira admired her for a moment, watching the soft laughter and sweet smiles of the priestess as she moved.

Scanning the crowd first, just in case, Lira stepped in and slid her arms around Vae’s waist, resting her cheek against her hair. “Mind if I steal her away?” she asked the shaman playfully before spinning her around.

Beaming up at her, Vae fell into the slow dance steps Lira guided her into, the pair of elves weaving a circle around the rest of the dancers. Vae seemed to watch her closely, a curious yet content expression on her face.

“You never come here, Lira.”

Shrugging with one shoulder, Lira sent her into a short spin before pulling the priestess back up against her. “I came for you. I wanted to celebrate. We’re one step closer to an assault on the Nighthold.”

Gasping, her eyes widening, Vae grabbed onto Lira a little tighter. “What?! That's great! You've been talking about that for weeks.”

Lira smiled, bringing Vae down into a dip that made the shorter elf break out into giggles. Her eyes moved up from the laughing priestess, meeting the amused gaze of the smuggler for a moment. He gave Lira a slow wink before she looked away, pulling Vae back up into the dance. Smiling softly, she reached up to trail her fingertips along Vae’s jawline. “You're busy tonight, aren't you?”

Wincing lightly, she nodded sadly up at Lira. “I am. I have to get up to the Keep for transport soon, I just came here to have a little fun first. I’m sorry, Lira.”

“Don't be. I’ll snag you another time. Just be safe.”

Rising up on her toes as they stopped dancing, Vae pressed a gentle kiss to the assassin’s lips and Lira cupped her face, kissing her back with a touch of hunger that she had to pull away from. As Vae settled back on her feet, the pair ignoring catcalls from drunk humans by the fireplace, she reached up to brush Lira’s bangs out of her face. “Try to have a little fun. You don’t need me.”

“Vae, I will always need you.” Lira insisted quietly before pulling away, her hands dropping from Vae’s waist to rest on the hilts of her daggers.

Backing away with a bright but sad smile, Vae turned to leave the tavern, her braid hanging down her back like a tail. Glancing toward the bar, Lira debated on just drinking or leaving when she caught Daerodane’s eye again. His lips quirked upwards in a challenging smirk and she felt herself crossing the tavern to meet him.

They’d crossed paths several times since their meeting in Ashenvale, brief moments full of him flirting with the assassin and her replying with silence or a bored glare. He always took it in good humor, though, which somewhat shifted her initial opinion of him. The traces of what had reminded her of Sebanti no longer did, though the smuggler seemed to be just as relentless.

Dropping down into the empty chair next to him, she lounged back and propped her legs up across his knees. “Fancy meeting you here, handsome.” Holding his whiskey glass up with one hand, he smoothed his hand over her shin, the motion pausing as he felt one of several hidden blades as his touch glanced over her boot before his hand came to rest on her knee.    
  
“That was a cute little show.” he remarked, gesturing toward the dancers with his drink before he took a swallow of it. “I suppose it would be too much to hope that I could get a dance.”

She gazed over at him for a moment, contemplating. His gaze remained on hers as he waited patiently. Something seemed to nudge her into the idea and she smirked. Pulling her legs back off of his, Lira stood and offered him a hand. “Alright, pretty boy. I’ll dance with you.”

~~

When Liraelan woke that afternoon, the tree towering over them kindly shielding the pair of elves from the sun, she felt sore. Her shoulder still burned from his vicious bite, her thighs feeling a similar but dulled pain from his nails. She could feel his even breathing against the curve of her neck, the rise and fall of his chest pressing to her scarred back at his inhale. She could smell the coppery tang of blood, mostly her own, along with the remnant of their sweat and sex. Drawing her lower lip in between her teeth, she resisted the desire to push her hips back against him. Lira was fairly certain he wasn’t really sleeping and had to wonder why he had remained.

A crow flapped down to land by her outstretched arm, tilting its head to one side as it looked down at her with a beady black eye. She twitched her finger at it, gently shooing it away.  _ Not right now, Nawat. _ she thought. With a flick of its tail, the crow seemed to give an aire of huffing at her before flying off again.

The subtlest change in his breathing confirmed his awareness, causing a heated tingle to spread across her body. She still hurt but… Elune’s tits it felt so  _ good _ . With a slight growl of longing in her throat, she twisted around in Daero’s arms and caught his grinning mouth in a kiss as it descended on her own.

~~

“I knew you two would end up fucking, though I’m also somewhat surprised.” Vae’riss remarked a good few hours later, sitting beside Liraelan as her glowing hands moved at a slow, gradual pace up the rogue’s satisfyingly injured body. Fresh wounds closed easily beneath the priestess’s talented touch. The ones from the evening before were a little slower, especially as Vae reached the ragged fang lines at her shoulder. “Damn… he could have ruined your tattoo. You really got into it, didn’t you?”

Lira offered no words, having been mostly mute since she had stumbled into Vae’s home. She let out a hint of a moaning grumble, adding a shrug that made her wince. Vae only shook her head in amusement, moving away from the bed only long enough to fetch a jar of salve from a shelf before returning. She spread a thin layer over the dark lines, dulling the sting as the medicinal herbs came into effect. 

Vae’riss moved to put the jar back when Lira’s hand caught her wrist. The pale elf glanced back down with a concerned frown as she met the assassin’s silver gaze.

“Don’t… please don’t tell Gald.”

Sighing, Vae stroked Lira’s hair out from her face. “I never would have thought to, dear. Get some rest, I’ll go get us some food.”

Pulling away, the assassin’s hand fell back to the bed as she allowed herself to drift into a doze. In the security of Vae’s scent around her, Lira pulled the blankets up around her with careful movements and before long she had fallen into a deeper sleep. A soft knock sounded on the door with no reaction, footsteps eventually moving away. Vae returned shortly afterward, setting aside a basket of food before striding over to the bed. Smiling softly, she reached down to brush her fingers through Lira’s hair.

A second knock sounded on the door and Vae pulled away from the sleeping assassin to go answer it, the horned silhouette of Ashirae looming over her curiously. “Oh, good evening. Lira’s here if you’re looking for her.”

“I know, I can see her.” Ashirae responded gently, stepping inside when Vae gestured her in. “I had been looking for her and Fenr- Gidrael. Gidrael told me she would likely be found with you.” the demon hunter explained, correcting herself with a brief pause. “Is she well?”

Blushing slightly as the priestess strode back over to Lira, idly tucking the blanket over her shoulders, she glanced back at Ash with a small smile. “She had a busy night. I brought food, if you’re hungry. There will be enough.”

Ashirae smiled and gave a short nod, sitting at the small table the basket sat upon. Vae walked back over and started serving the pair of them. “You are very kind, Vae’riss, thank you.” Resting her hands in her lap as she waited, Ash watched the younger priestess move around. “I’m glad Lira has you. I feel like, based on what I have seen, you really help her stay grounded.”

Smiling softly at the waiting illidari, Vae walked over to heat water for tea. “Someone has to keep her on track sometimes. And get her to pull her focus  _ off _ the demons. And feed her.” Laughing slightly as she placed tea mugs on the table, Vae glanced over at Lira and sighed. “She has a lot of anger and I don’t think she realizes that she can’t just fight it out when she hunts with Gald or you. I do have to admit, it’s a little less since you’ve returned.”

Accepting the tea with a quiet thank you as Vae poured it, Ashirae swirled it gently around in the cup as she spoke. “She hasn’t opened up about much that has occurred since Hyjal. She has scars on her back… I’ve seen glimpses on the field sometimes, when she moves certain ways. She avoided it when I asked. I don’t want to press, I just… I want to know my daughter, the person she’s become.”

Setting down the teapot, Vae gave Ashirae a small, sad smile. “She doesn’t deal in history. She carries it on her shoulders but she doesn’t talk about it. I assure you, though, that your daughter’s deeds, though performed in the shadows, have always been noble. Lira holds her family in her heart and in her actions. She never spoke  _ of _ any of you but as soon as I saw you I knew who you were. Your bearings, your spirit. Lira carries you.”

Smiling up at Vae, Ash reached over to gently hold the priestess’s hand for a moment in appreciation. “Thank you again, Vae’riss.”

They fell silent as they ate peacefully, both of them glancing over as Lira grumbled and stretched out over the bed, one foot sticking out from the blankets as she sprawled under the covers. Vae had turned back to her food as a frantic knocking sounded on the door. Lira bolted awake, reaching for a blade from the bracer she wasn’t wearing, her face scowling as her fingertips slid across skin instead of leather.

“Vae’riss!” called a voice from outside, both Vae and Lira relaxing somewhat before twin concern crossed their faces.

“Loraelais?” they asked in unison as Vae got up to go answer it.

The druidess scurried into the home, her face full of guilt and worry as she grabbed the priestess’s shoulders. “Vae, I just - oh, hello Lira - Vae, this person who knew you, he was getting really, really in my face and wouldn’t back off when I asked him to leave me alone. Like, he wasn’t being  _ mean _ , I just… you know how I am with strangers and my personal space and, well, he ended up actually grabbing hold of me and smelling me and- and I freaked out and shocked him with a star spell and I think it hit him harder than I had meant. I only wanted him to go away! But then I was trying to help him and heal him and then sentinels came out of nowhere like they were hunting him and they dragged him off in chains and it’s all my fault!” she rambled, her panic pouring out as tears streamed down her light blue cheeks. “I didn’t mean for it to happen! He said he knew you!”

Sighing as she tried to comfort the distressed druid, Vae looked over at Lira with a flat expression that was mirrored on the rogue’s face. 

“Daerodane.”

Wiping at her face, Lais looked between the two kaldorei and tried to calm down. “H-he never said who he w-was.”

Rustling sounded by the bed as Lira yanked her gear on, Ashirae looking curiously between the others as she listened and ate. “You don’t have to know, you described him perfectly. Long, purple hair, bare chest, covered in tattoos, right?” Lira asked, standing as she secured her bracers.

“Y-yes.”

“Yeah, that’s Daero. Do you know where they took him?” Lira pulled her belt around her hips and, securing it, checked all her things by habit.    
  
“No, I didn’t follow them. I came straight back here.” Lais answered, sitting on the edge of the bed as she sighed, looking incredibly guilty.

“What are you doing, Lira?” Vae asked, sitting back in her chair as Ashirae watched everything quietly. 

“I am going to send out a couple string pulls, see what I can dig up on Daero. I don’t know that much about him besides him being a smuggler, a flirt and an asshole. I just, you know… I wanna know what he’d get arrested for. And after I make some queries I’m going to go approach whomever is in command regarding his arrest.” Lira answered. “If he deserves it, Lais won’t feel guilty anymore. I mean, look at her.” Walking over to the sniffling druid, Lira gently grabbed her chin and made a gesture of appeal toward her face. “I can’t let this stand.”

Tilting her head slightly, Ashirae’s mouth curved in a slight smile as she asked, “What makes you think he wouldn’t deserve an arrest?”

“I mean… I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.” Lira admitted, smoothing back her hair. “But I’m curious.”

Seemingly amused, the illidari observed her daughter. “You’re not talking to the commander looking like that, are you?”

Making a short, derisive noise, Lira crossed her arms. “Aw, come on, Mother. I know better than that. I’m gonna get my old SI:7 gear on and  _ then _ go talk to them. He just got arrested, so I’ll probably go tomorrow. Give it a little time. Be weird for me to know immediately, right? So if you wanna go hunting after I send out the letters I’m up for it.”

Ashirae thought about it, turning her teacup around on the table as Vae continued to eat. “Actually… I am rather curious. You do what you need to do and I will wait in the wings, as it were. It will be a good learning experience for me. And I can hardly accompany you, our people still have certain… hatreds.”

Frowning as she paused, halfway to the door, Lira redirected to walk over to her mother. Bending to hug the demon hunter tightly, she sighed sadly. “You always deserve to be treated better than that, Mother.”

Turning to Lais as she stood up straight, Lira added, “As for you, you really shouldn’t feel bad. I know how he is, it’s not your fault. But I know you, so I’ll investigate.” Giving the druid a small smile, Lira made her way out of Vae’s house.   
  
~~

With five letters sent by the early evening, Liraelan walked out of her small home in Darnassus with her usual roguish leather replaced by the nicer, Alliance-granted armor that she kept for more official events. Not that she had needed to attend any for quite some time. The armor felt odd, restricting parts of her body she usually kept bare. Frowning as she adjusted the lacings of the vest, she looked  across the city’s lake toward the Temple. She could see more sentinels buzzing about up front than usual, a tent erected off to the side of the large foundation. Glancing at her reflection in the water, she decided she looked as good as she was going to and made her way across the city.

Observing the commander when she drew close enough to get a detailed look at her, Lira found herself frowning slightly. Beneath the tent’s awning that flapped gently in the Darnassian breeze, the tall kaldorei woman stood above her peers, her shimmering silver armor adorned with intricate badges and a long, midnight blue cloak draped over her shoulder. She was pouring over a stack of scrolls and parchment scattered across a fine mahogany table. Appearing concerned with discussing a mobilization plan, she didn’t notice the silent steps of the approaching rogue as she tended to preparation. 

"No, Techlaus, we will have provisions enough to cross the full breadth of Astranaar in a week. Make it happen." she commanded, her tone holding a surety in her voice that expected quick obedience from her subjugate lieutenant.

Lira halted her step a respectful distance away while being within range of the commander’s perception. Waiting patiently as orders were given to various sentinels, a couple looking over at the rogue before moving out with their instructions, the assassin noticed the woman register the fact that Lira was standing there and seemed content to ignore her. Resisting the urge to add a hint of hostility to her tone, she cleared her throat slightly before speaking, taking a step forward.

"Good evening, Captain." Liraelan greeted casually, keeping her gaze off of the papers in spite of her burning curiosity. As the other elf turned to glance at the rogue, Lira made the customary salute in respect, hoping she didn't appear too rusty at it. "It's not often I see such forces here."

The captain’s eyes slid up from the map splayed beneath her hand, twin points of sparkling crystal pinning on Lira. After a moment she stood straighter, towering over those around and seemed to make a point of letting a moment of silence hang before she mimicked the salute half heartedly. "Ishnu'dal dieb, sister." Her tone betrayed irritation at being interrupted but she paused as if waiting for Lira to explain herself.

"Bladesinger, by the way. I apologize if I seem a little unpolished, I've been spending a lot of time on the field in the Isles." Lira explained, resisting the habit of pushing her hair back. "I heard news that one of my contacts was arrested. I prefer to keep my professional connections in check and legitimate. If it’s not too much to ask, I’d like to know  _ what _ he did, precisely, to land himself in a less than favorable situation.”

The commander did not reciprocate the telling of her name to Lira, nor did she reveal the slightest hint of interest in the assassin's words, until she spoke, rather bluntly, of the elf in her custody. To this, her posture stiffened, her flat gaze honing in on Lira's face. She waited, cool eyes darting with subtle movements over Lira's expression.  “You said… he.” She drawled carefully, luminescent gaze hardening gradually as she continued to watch the assassin.

Measuring the sentinel’s reaction to her statement, Lira felt her eyebrow start to rise before she made her expression remain neutral. “I did say he. Does that overly matter? Have you arrested more than one person today?” Coughing slightly to redirect herself, she settled her hands on her hips, the lack of her main weapons bothering her as she continued to watch the other woman. 

The commander’s gaze tightened at Lira’s words, more than annoyance darkening those glowing, glassy eyes. Her lustrous lips tightened into a nearly imperceptibly thin line before she let the expression fall. “Tell me, Bladesinger…” something in the way the Sentinel said her name sent a tiny chill down the back of Lira’s neck… a familiar and noticeably spiky edge to her voice. “...how is it that you came to know of any arrest this day? No warrants were issued.” She paused, letting her gaze drift down the unrefined and obviously neglected armor she wore. “And I’m certain that no missives were sent to SI:7 regarding any prisoners.”  Her eyes cut into slivers of sparkling silver as they locked once again onto Liralaen’s, the larger woman waiting predatorily to hear her response. 

Keeping the cocky swagger out of her tone and posture took nearly all of Lira’s control, her reply issued in a cool, matter-of-fact manner. “A good agent keeps more sources than those given at face level, Captain. Otherwise valuable information would be lost to the shadows every day. Resources such as your prisoner, who I am still rather curious about in regards to what has been done. Like I said previously, I would rather my connections stay clean, since they  _ are _ connected to me.” Lira raised her eyebrows in an inquisitive expression, falling silent as her eyes remained locked on the sentinel’s.

“Resources?  _ Resources _ ?!”  The commander whispered the words, though for all the venom they held she might as well have spat them in Lira’s face. An angry grimace seeped into the woman’s beautiful face, twisting it, yet in a heartbeat she tempered the expression and pulled away gently, straightening again to bring her full height to bare against the assassin’s smaller frame. She turned her face to one side, profile addressing the scattered Sentinels pretending not to listen. “Leave us.”  As the throng of armored warrioresses each grabbed their weapons and a few dossiers and turned to leave, Velonsia cut her face to one particularly large man, adorned in the glittering, Elunite armor of a lieutenant. “Vestus.” she cooed more calmly. “...do not wander too far.” The hulking Sentinel nodded curtly and with silent steps strode a few paces outside the tent, hands atop the pommel of his broadsword that he staked into the earth. His shadowed, visor-covered eyes glowing through the slits in his helmet were trained upon the assassin. 

Turning her attention back to Liraelan, the commander addressed her tightly. “I assure you  _ Bladesinger _ ...”  again, the emphasis placed upon her name held an unsettling edge to it. “...these are matters of the martial state and little concern of yours. Though.” her head tilted, the tiny crescent moon charm twinkling in the moonlight of Darnassus’ atmosphere. ‘...how is it that you are in league with such an elf? I’ve tried to root out his ...how did you put it? Contacts? And until now, sadly… it has been met with little success.” A sly grin crept across the woman’s blemishless face, her eyes twinkling with building pleasure as she insinuated a silent question at the kaldorei.

Unflinching, Liraelan found herself clenching her jaw tightly as she watched the woman, the edge in her voice betraying an almost intimate hatred. Lira wondered why, since she had never met this particular sentinel before. Her eyes remained on the captain but she sensed the others moving away, the particular presence of the one she had called Vestus putting the assassin on edge. She wanted to slide her hands the short distance from her waist to hilts that were not there, her thumbs hooking slightly on the thin fur lining of her belt instead. “I know nothing of  _ his _ contacts, so I am afraid that I cannot assist you there. Just because I have used him as one does not mean it goes both ways. I am ignorant to any of his crimes, which is why I am here in the first place. Or did I not make that clear?” Lira felt like a cornered wolf, her silver gaze sharp and unwavering from the captain’s as if they were facing off. Unfortunately, while not lacking blades entirely, she was still rather disarmed in more than just her weapons as she stared back into what was feeling like a silver abyss.

Vestus bristled lightly at the movement of Lira’s hands sliding down to her beltline. His own hand slid fractionally from the pommel of his blade to rest upon its handle. Nothing more, though the motion held the answer to his presence, those eyes still glinting from behind his visor, pinned upon Lira’s every breath. Velonsia smiled, confidence dripping from her as the assassin replied politely, malice rising to color her expression. “Ignorance… to be sure, was your first mistake in coming here.” The captain relished the chance to degrade the younger kaldorei and with the sultry ease and slow grace of a queen she spoke as if in no hurry. “And since you have come to me so ignorant of what you deign to ask about, let me enlighten you.”  

The formidable sentinel leaned against the table, long elegant hands curling over a stack of paper to reveal the strength hidden beneath them. “This ...man you call a resource once worked for us.” She let her gaze fall over Lira, offering a dubious expression as if much was left to be desired. “He was good at what he did… as I’ve heard your family can be when it suits you.” Her gaze began to glow, that silver light tinging her smooth, dusky cheeks. “Daerodane was on mission for us in the Firelands when he decided to murder his commanding officer in cold blood.” Velonsia’s brow knitted beneath the dangling charm of Elune’s moon. She repeated her words, as if to herself, in a hushed tone. “In cold …blood.” Refocusing on Lira, she continued, anger flaring blatantly in the twitch at the corner of her lip. “That commander’s name was Moonbrow.” Lira wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard the harrowing sound of a growl humming at the back of the sentinel’s throat before she spoke again, each word concise and articulated with care. “Do you know what  _ my _ name is, Liraelan Bladesinger? I am Velonsia Moonbrow, sister to a murdered brother.”  

Listening and appraising the woman carefully, Lira’s right hand tightened only marginally against her belt as Captain Moonbrow insinuated a slight against her family. Thinking about her impression of the smuggler in the short silence after Velonsia stopped speaking, Lira somehow felt the slightest twinge of doubt at the woman’s side of the story. How much did she know about the actual crime, the assassin wondered. Lira knew  _ cold _ , something that did not strike her as a trait belonging to Daerodane. Borrowed occasionally, perhaps, but not something he truly harnessed. No, Liraelan knew what cold was like, and it had haunted her since Feralas. Another flavor of it was staring her down right now. With only a couple moments of silence passing, Lira asked politely, “My condolences, for I know what it is like to lose one’s siblings, but I have to wonder why you are on this case when you are personally, emotionally invested in it. It seems rather unprofessional.”

Velonsia blinked, her eyes growing wide. For all the anger roiling beneath her visage and brimming to its surface, the Captain had not seen that play coming. She eased herself away from Lira in surprise as if fleeing before commanding sternness back into her countenance. Her lip curled in an angry sneer as she glared at Lira. “Listen to me, you little whelp.” Velonsia hissed in a quiet tone meant for Lira’s ears alone. She leaned in close again, poison oozing in her words and hatred burning behind those lacklustre eyes. “Daerodane is  _ mine _ . Forget that you ever knew him. Forget his name, his face. Forget whatever you thought you knew of him.” All pretense of cordial professionalism gone, the sentinel now growled each word in the tiny space between their faces. Her hand curled into a fist of rage, crumpling a stamped parchment in its grasp. Lira smiled lightly, knowing that she’d unbalanced the woman’s poise in front of her troops. “By morning, the world will forget the murderous drunk ever existed and it shall be better for his absence.”  Velonsia drove her hard stare into Lira. “Leave… this… alone, Bladesinger. Or you’ll wish you truly had never met the bastard.” 

Lira didn’t know, yet, how she was going to do it. But Captain Moonbrow had just sealed the man’s fate and it most certainly wasn’t what the woman had intended for him. There was something about this Velonsia, something deeply sinister in her eyes and the way she repeatedly said Lira’s name.  _ No. _ the assassin thought defiantly, feeling a sense of urgency and determination welling up in her chest as her cool gaze met the rage of Velonsia’s.  _ No, I don’t think I will. _ Aloud she finally said, “I thank you for your time, Captain. This has been truly enlightening and I hope you have a wonderful night.” Without waiting for another word or a dismissal, Lira turned on her heel in a brisk, military fashion and strode away without giving Vestus so much as a glance.

Boring a hole in the assassin’s back, Velonsia watched her step silently and, more confidently than she would have wished, away from the tent. After a moment the Captain let out a shriek of frustration and swept her clawed hand across the preparation table beneath her, sending an array of papers fluttering into the air. A few labored breaths later, she composed herself and stood again, resuming a regal and impassive poise. She strode to Vestus, who still remained motionless where she’d left him. “Vestus….” she said in a quiet voice, dipping her head to speak into his ear. “Become a shadow that belongs to the young Bladesinger. Where she goes, you go. I wish to have eyes upon her.”  The man made no sound but his helmet rose and then fell in a curt nod of finality. Without a hesitating breath he surged to life, spinning with alarming, fluid grace for a soldier of his size and spun his sword from the ground, clicking it into place upon his armored back. Two sentinels followed him without needing to be ordered and three sets of footprints stole silently into the forest in the direction Lira had gone. 

Liraelan’s sharp ears heard the woman’s cry of rage, a slow and triumphant smile spreading across her face. As she approached Vae’s home she sensed something in the shadows around her and kept walking, making her way out of Darnassus. Strolling down the meandering forest path, the assassin made her way toward the closest moonwell and, the silvery waters dancing calmly before her, she settled down cross-legged on the cool stone comprising the well. Inhaling deeply, she calmed her nerves and closed her eyes as she feigned a prayer-like pose, her face turned up toward the moonlit sky. She  _ had _ to trust that the Captain wouldn’t be so bold as to have anyone attack her, but she knew she had a tail of some sort.

Focusing hard enough for the night around her to bleed away, Lira found herself upon the wings of a crow. Nawat flapped idly around the city that she had left behind and with a small nudge she directed him toward Vae’s home. She felt him land on her windowsill and peck once on the glass, the sharp rap startling the priestess inside. The curious face of her mother leaned toward the glass before the window opened.

“-is Nawat, I hope Lira’s okay.” Vae was saying, her pale face full of concern as the bird hopped inside.

“What would be wrong, is he a messenger?” Ashirae asked, closing the window once he was inside.

“Well, see that little band-”

“ _ Now is not the time, I do not have long. _ ” Lira said, her body by the moonwell breathing slow and deep in her meditation as the bird spoke in her voice. “ _ It has been an interesting meeting, to say the least. Mother, first… do you know of anyone by the name of Moonbrow? _ ”

Ashirae frowned, lifting the crow gently on her bracer as she moved over to the bed. Lira could tell Lais had left. Good. “This is… strange. But yes, I knew a Moonbrow. A troubled woman who I thought had a lot of promise, if only she made better choices. Why?”

“ _ That’s who is in charge of this case. Apparently Daerodane killed her brother, she claims in cold blood. That’s why he was arrested. _ ”

Frowning, her mother replied, “Averthi had quite the temper on him back then. I was not around him a great deal, however. But why are you communicating like this?”

“ _ Because I’m being followed, Mother. Let me get some information. Tell me about this woman. She had a very specific hatred for  _ me _ , and our name. I’ve never met her before in my life, it has to be old history. _ ”

“Before Archimonde, when you were still in your earlier training, I was approached and offered a commanding position of sentinel troops. I declined, because I was happy with our lives and with my position at the Temple. She was the second chosen, which I felt rather wary about because Velonsia was always very… eager. And not in the best of ways. Under her command, early in her career, she made a call that sacrificed so, so many of her sentinels. When we heard the news we were horrified and I met her upon her return, demanding to know how she could make such a terrible choice. It did not even gain anything! It was a tremendous loss of our people for no reason.”

Nawat remained quiet for a moment as Lira mulled over her mother’s story, becoming more unsettled. “ _ Did she seem to learn at all? Was she admonished by a commanding officer? Anything? _ ”

Shaking her head, Ashirae frowned. “I don’t know. It was not long after that when the attack happened. I held hope for her but she was very headstrong and arrogant. Her brother’s encouraging temper did not help in the least.”

“ _ Mother, I’m breaking him out, but I need a plan. I don’t know how many are watching me or what they have been ordered to do but I can’t even go near their holdings. I would rather not get intimate with their blades since I was a fucking  _ idiot _ who didn’t even bring my own. _ ”

Leaning toward the crow, Vae’s face came into view again. “But Lira, we don’t even know where he is.”

“I can find him.” Ashirae said quietly, interrupting both of the younger elves who had been about to speak. “Illidari training grants much. I may not be a rogue but the shadows still accept me and my sight will seek him out. I can locate him for you.”

Lira paused. “ _ You would do that? You don’t even know him. _ ”

Smiling slightly, her mother raised an eyebrow. “Do you? Is that not why you went to meet the Captain in the first place? I admire your need for justice, Lira, and it will be seen. His fate will be yours when he is retrieved, one way or the other, but Velonsia is certainly not the right one for this task. Who put her on this case, anyway? It is entirely unprofessional.”

Nawat crowed out a harsh laugh, his wings flaring slightly as Ashirae recoiled in surprise at the bird. “ _ That’s what I fuckin said, Mother, and you shoulda seen her fucking  _ face _! _ ” Lira’s body shivered, mental exhaustion settling in as the meditation took its toll on her. “ _ Time’s up, I have to wrap this up before I pass out. Mother, let Nawat know when you locate him. Vae, could you get Anisaris? I have a feeling Daero is going to need a bit of healing if you are up to this task. Bribe Ani with something really shiny, I dunno. Tell him I owe him one. Or two. But we need a mage. There is no way out otherwise. Be swift, come morning it’s over. _ ”

Releasing the magic, Lira forced herself to remain upright as she held in and controlled the panting her body wanted to do. Lowering her face, she gazed down at the waters before her and felt like, somehow, they were shining up in comfort. Shaking off the tingling in her left arm, she stood and made her way toward Dolanaar.


	4. Stolen Away

Liraelan rested in Dolanaar, watching passing sentinels as they paced or stood their posts. She wondered over Moonbrow, the reach of the captain and just how unstable the woman was. What had caused it? Her behavior seemed so unnatural.

Picking at the top of the table as she ate a little food, her mind drifted to ‘ _ Why did Daero kill him _ ?’

Her mental stew of questions paused as a shadow fell over her, causing her to tense and look up. Sebanti stood there, gazing down at her curiously with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I am entirely too tired to deal with your bullshit right now, Nightwhisper.” she muttered, picking at her food as she looked back down. Much to her dismay, if not surprise, he sat in the seat across from her and leaned against the table as he watched her.

“What are you even doing here?”

“Last I checked I didn't answer to you.” she answered in a bored voice, not bothering to look back up. “I do whatever the fuck I want, like ignoring you.”

“Where are your daggers… why are you wearing that?” he continued to press, his tone honestly curious and perhaps a little confused.

Sighing, Lira dragged her gaze from the piece of fish she was scooting around her plate to lock on his face. His expression was etched with almost genuine concern, his eyes appraising her face, her posture, her mood. It was an expression she hadn't seen on his face in a very, very long time. It almost unnerved her. “Ban, last time I checked, not answering to you covers all sorts of actions and intents. I had something to deal with. It's none of your business. Go away.”

“Do you need help with anything?”

Blinking up at him blankly for a few moments, Lira dropped the fork onto her plate and shoved it away as she pushed up from her slouch. She had lost her appetite. “I’m… I’m just gonna go away instead. You… don’t… just don't.” Standing as an inn attendant came by to take her plate, Lira turned and walked away.

Striding back into the forest, Lira felt her arm tingle again and, leaning against a tree with her shoulder, she focused on her tattoo.

“Lira?” her mother's voice asked. 

Nawat shuffled his feathers, head inclining to look at Ashirae. Vae came into view. “She's there.”

“Alright. Lira, he is being held in the barrows outside the city. Do you know of where I speak?”

The crow bobbed his head in a nod before looking around the room. Lira saw Vae and Anisaris, the latter looking displeased but ready. Nawat cocked his head to the side as the assassin noticed what they were wearing. Vae gestured down at herself, seeing the question.

“It seems we have someone on the inside. Daero has people who care after all. Now that we know where he is, we figure if Ani ports us close enough we can march in with the papers that came with these and get close to him.” Vae adjusted the sentinel armor she was wearing, looking slightly uncomfortable. “It's risky but your mother thinks we can pull this off. She taught us what to do, I've never really dealt with sentinel business before.”

“You will be fine. Both of you. Just move with purpose and do not hesitate. People won't think to question you. Lira, dear, what of those following you?” Ashirae asked, her tone one to bolster the two with her. “Why isn't she talking this time.”

“The magic is exhausting.” Ani answered. “If she's communicated through him once tonight it's a wonder she's still awake. Look, he shrugged, so she doesn't know. Lira, if we’re doing this Vae and I need to move now. Will you be joining us or are you throwing us in there alone?”

Nawat’s head drooped and Lira sensed outward. Her brow furrowed as she felt only the one persistent, unfamiliar presence since she had left Velonsia. The presence held weight, giving her the sense of someone almost as imposing as the captain herself.

She smirked internally. Vestus. Perking back up, Nawat gave a short caw and flapped his wings once. Ani seemed to relax a little and nodded.

“See you soon, then, Lira. Be cautious.”

Lira pushed off the tree as she released the magic, sending the bird a thought of gratitude before withdrawing. Listening hard as she walked, she smirked to herself. Sebanti, surprisingly, had already departed. She would have to wonder about his odd behavior later.

Leading Vestus in a wide loop around the outskirts of Dolanaar, Lira waited until she was passing a wide tree before turning suddenly and walking into a cloak of shadows. To the plain eye and most trained ones, the assassin had vanished. 

Slowly making her way back toward the city, Lira made sure she couldn't feel him following her anymore before making a straight path toward the barrows. She hadn't even known it had been outfitted as a prison. Observing the guards as she approached, her eyes scanned over the grass. Two sets of new footprints were gradually fading from the green. Voices down the trail made her look toward the city and Lira could hear Velonsia’s voice, accompanied by another.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Lira made for the entrance.  Her footsteps were utterly silent as her heart thudded in her chest, the assassin’s ears open and eyes focused. She saw Vae and Ani being allowed entrance into a cell and Lira rushed forward, slipping inside just as it was shut behind them. 

Taking a brief moment to rest against the wall of the cell as she dropped the shadows from around her, Lira watched Vae reach up to silence Ani’s surprise. Her eyes fell on the growling, hooded elf chained in the middle of the small room and her gaze hardened at the sight. Vae was already behind him with glowing hands, quickly moving over the worst of his wounds. Ani was turned away, focusing on a portal as the priestess worked.

Dropping to a knee beside Daero’s stripped and punished form, Lira muttered in a low voice as she retrieved her picking kit. “We’re out of time, she's inbound. You'll have to heal him more at our destination.”

As the chains fell away from him at her bidding, the distant sound of Moonbrow’s voice in the tunnel echoed down to them.

Arcane light flooded the room and Ani whispered, “The way is open.” Panic was heavy in his tone and Lira scooped an arm under Daero's elbow.

“This will probably hurt.” she warned him, the assassin and Vae moving in unison with the tortured smuggler in tow as they hauled him toward the portal. As they crossed the barrier of magic the mage followed them through, the portal winking out of existence as the cell door swung open again.

Twilight skies of the Eastern Kingdom greeted the four as they found themselves in the ruins of a house, Daero groaning in pain as Vae returned to his side. Ani removed the cloak from his borrowed costume, draping it over the tattooed male before he turned to look out through the cracks of the shuttered window.

Lira collapsed beside Daero’s form as Vae carefully pulled the hood off his head, the smuggler quiet as he looked around. He remained still as the priestess worked, his amber gaze solid on the panting assassin.

“A-Ani… where we at?” Lira asked somewhat breathlessly, her eyes cracks of silver as she wearily looked over at the mage, watching him slowly shed the armor, each piece dropping to the floor with a dull thud.

“Hillsbrad. Dalaran Crater.” he answered tersely, straightening his shirt before he stepped out of the boots.

“Elune’s tits, Ani, you are brilliant.” she sighed, feeling a struggle to keep her eyes open. Sensing his anger as he kept his back to them, she frowned as guilt welled up in her tired chest. “...thank you, Anisaris. I can't express how grateful I am for your help.”

“We can discuss it another time. Do you need anything else?” he asked, his tone increasing the guilt she felt.

“I need a great deal of things, Ani, but I will request no more of you.” Lira replied, forcing herself to sit up and climb to her feet. Resting a hand on his shoulder, she looked up at him meaningfully as he turned his head enough to meet her eyes. “I mean it. Thank you.”

He turned to face her completely, his frown making her feel worse as he gazed down at her with a hint of disappointment. “You owe me three.” he remarked with finality before a swell of magic washed over the three of them, the mage suddenly absent.

With an exhausted groan, Lira dropped back down the the floor and winced as her back landed solidly on the wood. Vae looked up from the still silent smuggler to frown in concern at her.

“I know you're probably at the end of your rope, but maybe let Ashirae know?” the priestess suggested.

“I… already did.” Lira murmured, her head drooping towards them as the assassin lost her grip on consciousness. 

~~

Liraelan woke with a pounding headache, the late afternoon sun filtering through the hole in the roof. Sitting up slowly, she looked around her to see Vae curled up to the assassin’s right, sleeping solidly while Daero slept on Lira’s left, both cloaks from Ani and Vae’s sentinel armor draped over him. The sunlight was harsh against his remaining injuries and Lira knew worse was hidden under the cloth.

Standing slowly, she clutched at her head as her stomach growled. Sighing as she peeked through the window Anisaris had stood at in the earliest moments of dawn, she pulled her two longest hidden blades from her boots and silently left to get them food and water. Cloaking herself in the shadows, Lira kept her eyes sharp as she hunted, the land she walked under Horde claim and thus a danger to be caught in.

On the upside, there wouldn’t be any sentinels.

Keeping far, far away from the tainting radius of the Forsaken, Lira crouched low as she found a small group of deer. Watching them for a period of time, she observed their behaviors and paid close attention to their coats to determine if it would be safe to claim one. She frowned in the shadows, too uncertain to want to risk it. Moving on, the assassin paused at certain trees, retrieving swiftthistle and a few other herbs, tucking them into a pouch on her belt as she wandered.

A campfire near the old ruins of Durnholde Keep caught her attention and she warily headed toward it, feeling somewhat relieved when the small group of four were her allies. Or, at least, were not Horde. Two dwarves, a gnome and a human sat around the fire as they conversed quietly but merrily. Taking a breath to steady herself, Lira put away her boot knives and walked forward in plain sight.

“Pardon the intrusion, adventurers.” she greeted calmly, the four flinching toward their weapons until they saw her. One of the dwarves eyed her carefully as he inclined his head.

“Good afternoon, elf. What brings ya this way?” he asked as the other three watched quietly.

“Passing through, mostly, but one of my companions is injured. She can’t be moved currently and we’re out of rations. I went hunting but, well, one cannot be too sure about the health of animals in lands held by the Forsaken.” she answered amiably.

“Aye, I can understand such a concern.” he nodded, his tone suggesting he was waiting for something.

“If you’ve enough to spare, I would be willing to pay for some food. We don’t need much, just enough for a meal while we wait for our friend to arrive to help heal my injured companion.” Lira continued, her demeanor hopeful and earnest as she weaved her tale.

Seeming to relax, the dwarf addressing her nodded and smiled brightly up at her. “Aye, I think we can help ya. Say, Kinneth, hand me that bag so I can stick some food in it.” He gestured toward the human, who acquiesced and passed him a pack. He was quick, to which Lira was grateful, and she gave him a little more gold than everything was worth in gratitude.

“I appreciate the help, thank you. Elune guide your steps.” She gave the group a small, grateful bow as she pulled the strap over her shoulder and backed into the shadows.

They blinked in surprise as she vanished, the gnome shaking her head and remarking, “Elves.”

Lira made her quick way back to the crater, finding the pair to still be sleeping when she returned. Setting back down between them, she divided out the food before retrieving the herbs she had collected and sorting them out. Sitting with her back against the wall, she studied Daerodane’s face as he rested, his ragged but even breathing mixing with Vae’s soft exhales. Nibbling on some dry ration bread, the assassin continued to ponder the questions from before.

Daero’s body was a tapestry of ruin. The wreckage that Velonsia had wrought upon him still freshly minted. Though Vae’riss’ magics had saved the kaldorei’s life and mended much of the damage, grievous scars still scattered his body and his dusky flesh still boasted dark, ominous bruises. The splintered bones of his ribs ached with each tiny breath and the trials of the night held claim over his consciousness. In his delirium, Daero mumbled, twitching gently, his head jerking to one side and a cold sweat broke upon his brow, beading and shimmering in the daylight that invaded the makeshift sanctuary beneath the ruins of Dalaran crater. He cried out abruptly, trying to bolt upright, amber eyes dull but bulging wide. His wounds drug him quickly back down to floor that was his bed, unconsciousness claiming him once again as he drifted into a fitful unrest.

Liraelan moved to dart forward, intending to restrain him but his own wounds did the job for her, sending him back to the floor. She sighed, looking at him with sympathy as Vae stirred, rubbing her face as she sat up.    
  
“Mmph… what happened?” she asked, still sounding weary.

“He had a short fit. Don’t worry, Vae, I’ll try to make sure he remains still.” Lira explained, reaching forward to brush the priestess’s messy hair back. “Get more rest, and then I have food for you. Go back to sleep.”

Vae nodded sleepily as she curled back up, her head on her arms as she fell back into a tired doze. Lira ran her fingertips along her brow for a moment before withdrawing and returning to her small meal. Eventually her eyes drifted away from the sleeping woman to return to Daero, the affectionate warmth retreating into her curious gaze.

The man’s breathing was shallow, but even, only disturbed by the sporadic, occasional twitching of his muscles as they mended themselves. Rogues were harder to heal with the magics of light. The shadow that roiled within the kaldorei resisted the light’s touch, though the priestess’ efforts had surely not been in vain. 

He stirred, this time slowly, and took a long, hard breath that filled his lungs and lifted his chest into the air. Though he did not grumble, a pained sigh was expelled when he settled back down.  One eye was completely swollen, the skin around it malformed and swollen into a dark mass of ugly flesh. The other, crept open slightly as Daero roused slowly, scanning his surroundings. “Wh-” his voice croaked, throat parched and lips cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Huunrph.  Where...where are we?” he finally managed. 

“A long way from the hell you  _ were _ in.” Lira remarked dryly, grabbing one of the waterskins out of the pack before scooting over to him. “We’re in the Dalaran Crater, because my friend is a genius.” Opening the water, she rested it against his lips. “Take a couple sips.”

He tried to push up, but was only able to strain his neck to bring his head forward. He lifted a hand to Lira’s clutching weakly for the water pouch. He drank slowly at first and then more greedily as thirst revealed itself. He hacked and sputtered, letting his head fall back to the ground and licked his dry lips. “Fuck… I feel like I got stomped by a kodo.” He brought a hand, smeared with dried blood all his own, to his cheek and tenderly pressed the swollen bruise. “A really fucking big kodo.” He looked to his side, finding the sleeping form of Vae’riss and he smiled, though it looked more like a wince. “So that’s why I didn’t bleed out.”

“I think kodos are more pleasant than the actual source.” Lira replied, resting the pouch in her lap as she closed it again. “I don’t think the conversation would have been as hostile if it was a kodo. Actually, yeah… I’d’ve prefered to encounter a kodo than that particular beast.” Letting out a short sigh, Lira glanced behind her to the sleeping elf and a small smile returned to her lips, however briefly. “She’s very skilled. I give her plenty of practice, so it’s hard not to be. I passed out not long after we arrived so I don’t know how long she stayed up healing you.”

Daero’s expression darkened as Lira reminded him of the source of his pain. And as she spoke, he was able to turn enough to watch her as she appraised the sleeping Vae’riss. He grew still as she spoke, letting her voice drape over him until she finished. After a calm moment, his one eyed gaze fell to travel down the length of his useless body beneath him. 

“And yet, it wasn’t her who truly saved me, was it?”  Daero’s fingers curled around the fabric of the cloak that had been laid across him. “I remember… it was you.” Daero was quiet, contemplative and subdued as he worked his mind, recalling bits between the blackness of pain that he pieced together. “You pulled me from the darkness. It felt like dying and then ...you were here.” He looked around the makeshift infirmary. 

Shrugging casually, her expression was otherwise serious as she spoke. “It was a team effort. I wouldn’t have even known about it if not for Lais. Which, by the way, I would kick your ass for if it hadn’t already been handed to you.” She jested, though something in her eye spoke the truth of it. “Do you regularly tumble into trouble or is it just a bad season for you?”

Daero paused, squinting until it pained him to do so. “Lais? The druid? How did she even… oh.”  In all of the chaos, the smuggler had entirely forgotten about the innocent little druid and his forward actions that had set this entire series of events into motion. “Fuck.” He muttered. “I remember now.” He brought a hand to his chest where the starfire had burned him, yet now found no remnants of her magic. He glared at his flesh, anger spilling into his face as he read the name Aventhi upside down, carved rudely across his chest, now a fading into a set of light scars. 

If he had been pained before, it was no match to the anger that flashed across his broken face now. Yet it burned quickly and faded into exhaustion before he could curse the Sentinels. Instead he pushed up onto an elbow, scooting slowly and painfully back to rest upright against a broken column of ancient cement. “Trouble finds me, whether I tumble or not. It… doesn’t usually find those around me.” He admitted, a tinge of guilt hanging over him. “Lira… listen, I don’t know why you came for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was dead. But this… you, Vae’riss, probably even the druid. She will hunt me ...forever. And now she’ll be hunting you.” Talking was taking its toll on Daero and his shoulders began to sag. Something between sorrow and frustration, perhaps even guilt mingled and danced across his face until he leaned his head back to the column, resting. “You shouldn’t have.”

Something dangerous flits across her features at the mention of a threat to Vae or Lais, but it subsided instantly. “To be honest, I didn’t do it for you. I did it to spite the bitch.” she admitted bluntly. “Our little meeting was… interesting. I feel it revealed quite a lot about her, though I also have been left with a lot of questions. Stealing you away from her was a bonus. Now,” Lira paused long enough to move a shattered table enough to brace it against the opposite wall of the small room, leaning against it as she considered the battered smuggler. “One of the questions I have is for you.” Gesturing at the savage graffiti of the dead man’s name on Daero’s chest, Lira watched him as she asked, “What’s the story?”

Daero turned away, refusing to look at the woman. For a long time he didn’t speak. Instead he let his mind wander to a thousand places, snap shot images of a past he’d been drinking away for years now. Lira had met with Velonsia? What had she said? What did Lira know? It wasn’t her business, his pain was his own and he didn’t owe her an explanation. And yet… he did. 

The woman and her band of friends had stolen him away in the night from a fate far worse than most could dream of. They had been his salvation when it was not their place. Daero couldn’t shake that fact from his blistering mind. He hated it. No. No, he realized with sudden clarity that he cherished it. 

Drawing in a long breath, he spoke to the adjacent wall, one that kept his face from Lira’s. “She told you that I killed her brother.” He said calmly. The statement was a question though it sounded like a fact. 

The assassin watched him, her eyes catching the shifts in his features as his silence stretched on. But she was patient, always patient. When he did finally speak, Lira could almost hear the dismal history in the forced calmness of his voice. “She did, but it was how she told me that raised questions. Let alone a slew of other things. Specifically, she said ‘in cold blood.’ Now, Daerodane, I am rather familiar with ‘cold’ and all that it entails. And you are a great many things but that would be far from the list of your descriptors.”

The kaldorei stroked a mess of blood-caked hair from his face, exposing his profile to Lira, though he still did not look at her. “You think I am a smuggler.” He smirked to himself, nodding gently. “And so I am. But once upon a better time, I was more than what you see now.” The man’s words came slowly at first, but they gained a momentum as he continued. “I worked in the Firelands as an assassin, believe it or not. A contracted soldier under the employ of the Sentinels. The Firelands were….” Daero’s voice quakes suddenly, a shuddering breath sucking into his lungs. “...it was hell.” The elf shut his eye and clenched a fist, skipping over the story that would tell the images playing before his closed eyes at that moment. “Aventhi Moonbrow, like his sister was… a terrible man. He was perhaps less corrupt and more foolish than Velonsia. When I told him I would not murder in his name, well… in a dance of blades only one can live. He sealed his fate the moment he drew on me.” 

Daero quickly grew quiet, his breath uneven again and his aching muscles taut and cinched as he leaned to clutch his knees. 

Lira stretched her legs out, crossing her ankles as she mulled over his words. Leaning her head back against the table behind her, she seemed to be contemplating the broken ceiling as silence fell once more. She understood the difference between the job they performed and murder, the assassin admitting quietly that she admired his resolve to defy orders. Though, the orders were what made the difference. Her voice low but concise, she prodded further. “Murder is relative to the situation.” 

Finally, Daero turned to look at Lira, his single eye glinting within the shadow cast by the column overhead. “Babies, Lira.”  He shook his head, as if he were hearing the orders for the first time and still could not understand or believe them. “He wanted me to kill children. Because they were born to parents twisted by Fandral.”  Sorrow and fury warred within the man and it was hard to tell which was winning as he sat there, staring far past Lira into the distant past of the fiery lands of Ragnaros. 

“I still see their faces.” He smirked grimly. “No matter how much I drink. “ He pulled his gaze back to Liraelan. “I will cross blades with any who oppose our brothers and sisters. Any who threaten me. But  _ children.  _ When I tried to resign my post, Moonbrow sought to end my ‘treason’ at the edge of his blade. Mine was faster. And that, Lira, is how Daerodane the Assassin ended.”

Liraelan felt chills, her hand tightening behind her crossed arms as she listened to him. Lowering her gaze from the open ceiling, she leveled her eyes at him with a spark of empathy and complete understanding. Recalling the captain of the previous evening, there was no room for deception. There was no need, between her personal encounter with the woman and her mother’s remarks on both members of the Moonbrows, Lira knew he couldn’t possibly lie about such cruelty. “And there are those who call the Horde the savage ones.” she remarked in a low voice, almost to herself. Suddenly on her feet, Lira paced briefly with an anxious sense of urgency. “In your place I would have done the same, Daerodane.” 

Before she could say more, her footsteps paused as Vae sat back up, rubbing at her face again as she grumbled quietly. “Eugh… floors are awful.” 

Crouching behind the priestess, Lira pulled her against her and gently turned Vae’s face toward Daero. “Look who else woke up.”

Tired eyes suddenly bright with direction, Vae settled her gaze on the rough looking elf and pulled out of Lira’s grasp. “Daero! I’m so relieved, you were in  _ awful _ shape. How are you feeling, is there anything pressing I need to heal fir-”

“Woman, would you at least fucking eat, first?”

Casting the shadow walker a final, subtle glance, Daerodane broke into a more amiable smile at the stirring of the priestess. He chuckled at her rush of words and the concern they carried on his behalf. “Vae’riss.”  He smiled. “Healing an asshole must really take its toll. You’ve slept the morning away.” He chided lightly, masking the pain that even a tiny laugh brought to a hundred hidden places on his body. 

He glanced at the table when Lira mentioned food and lightly gestured with a tilt of his head, looking to Vae’riss. “She’s right, you should eat. I’m still holding together, thanks to you. I imagine stitching this mess back together was no small thing.”  He grew more quiet, a sincerity seeping into his tone. “Thank you, Vae’riss.” Daero looked between both women who were, not so long ago, little more than strangers. “Thank you both.” 

Vae gave him a warm, if worried, smile as she stood, Lira slowly standing from her crouch behind her. “Of course. I’m glad to help. I’m just the healer, Lira had the drive.” She glanced up at the rogue teasingly and Lira gave her a smirk before watching her walk over to claim some of the rations. Glancing back at Daero, Lira’s expression left the impression of words unsaid before she moved to Vae’s side. 

Daero fell back into silence as Vae’riss slipped up to inspect the meal Lira had laid out. He watched as the assassin went to join her, Lira’s hand gliding down the priestess’ back to hold her hip in an affectionate embrace. Friendship, Daero thought to himself, hiding the wistful look as the pair mercifully forgot about him for the moment. He only barely heard one of them giggle quietly to the other as he sunk back down, eye closing and thoughts turning again to darker things. His smile smoothed out and settled into a dispassionate expression, fire-laced images filtering gradually back into his mind as sleep came to claim him.

Looking over at the rather quiet assassin as Lira sat beside Vae, she reached up to stroke blue hair out of Lira’s eyes as she slowly ate some of the rations. “What are you thinking about?”

Sighing, Lira glanced toward the once more sleeping smuggler before she studied her hands. “I don’t have a lot to back it up, but I have a really, really strong hunch that Velonsia’s darkness runs very, very deep. I’ll have to pull more strings, but I’m going to go digging.”

Looking worried, Vae finished her bite before taking a sip of water. “Well, it’s one of the things you’re good at. But… what about him? Did you find out what you wanted to know?”

Lira nodded, her expression still mostly turned inward. “He told me his crime. I would hardly call it a sin, honestly, but denying the corrupt rarely lands you in anything pleasant.” Meeting Vae’s gaze, she frowned. “I would have done the same thing and I said as much. It’s not my business to tell the details, but if paths were swapped I would easily be him right now.” Inhaling deeply, Lira dropped her head back against the wall as she sighed heavily. “Even with the justification, we -  _ I _ woke a great darkness with my choices, with my words. She will not forget me, though I have this feeling that even if I had left him to that fate she wouldn’t have been done with me.  _ Something _ about the way she talked to me… it had to be more than just Mother chastising her all those years ago.”

A breeze whispered through the broken rocks surrounding them, invading their little hovel and rattling the paper wrapped rations. Daero stirred, mumbling something lightly in his newfound sleep. Shadows tilted at new angles across their temporary little home, sending a subtle portent of warning that afternoon was drawing near and that night would not be long overdue.

Daero’s wounds would heal, and with it, perhaps a portion of the man’s soul was also mending. For the first time in many nights his dreams were absent the heat of fire and the screams of slaughter. The former soldier slept peacefully, his face holding the hint of a serene repose, having spoken the torment of his past to another. It was a start and for him, it was no small thing. There was more to say, yet now, his spirit found peace beneath the veil of sleep, with the closest thing to friends the man had known in years keeping vigil nearby. 

Around the closing of afternoon, darkness slowly laying claim to the sky, the conscious pair of elves felt a small ripple of magic and Lira had a boot knife halfway out of its sheath before she registered the familiar form of Anisaris rejoining them. Sliding the blade back into place, Lira stood silently, her question plain in her face.

Holding out a bundle of clothing, he tilted his head slightly toward the sleeping elf upon the floor. “I figured everyone would appreciate him having something to put on, after he’s fit to relocate.” Glancing down at Vae with a small nod of greeting, Ani asked, “How’s everything going?”

“I mean, we’re all alive and no one knows where we are, so I would say we’re pretty fucking good right now.” Lira answered, accepting the offered garments. “Thank you, Ani… I didn’t expect you to come back here.”

“Yeah, well… even your shitty choices are noble, Lira.” he remarked, looking weary. “And I thought you should know… I got inspected by the sentinels about an hour after I got home.”

Eyes wide and brimming with sudden anger, Lira’s grip tightened on the fabric in her arms as Vae gasped. “They  _ what _ ?!”

“I’m the only mage in Darnassus connected to you, Lira, and that captain… she is a nasty piece of work.” 

“How are you here if she suspected you?” Lira asked, equal parts of fury and guilt mixing in her chest. 

“Because I’m a good liar, that’s why. And anyway, I had already called in an alibi as soon as I got home, I had a fellow mage visiting and he vouched for me.” Ani explained, looking somewhat amused at Lira’s resulting expression. “I am not convinced she will stay away, but for now I’m off her radar… and I’m moving to Dalaran.”   
  
Lira frowned, setting the clothes down by Daero before facing Ani again. “I-”

“Lira, don’t apologize. What’s done is done and I’ll be able to study more in Dalaran, anyway. Maybe I’ll see you on the field occasionally. But Darnassus is… dangerous, so long as that woman is hunting him. They found traces of magic in his cell but can’t track where it went, because it goes here, which is essentially a river of scattered magic. I still wouldn’t stay long.”

Suddenly, a pebble thudded to the ground at the entrance to their hovel, interrupting the three elves. Immediately, Lira’s ears perking, eyes darted to the object and her hands brandished twin blades before Ani could take another breath. Crouching, she crept to the open frame of the rubble that serviced as a door and peeked around the corner, squinting in the fading light at the horizon in all directions. Nothing. 

Looking down to the pebble, she noticed it was wrapped in parchment and tied with dirty twine. Giving the surroundings another careful glance, she stooped quickly and picked it up, jerking herself back into the relative safety of the hut. 

“What is th-” the mage began to ask but Lira cut him off with a sharp signal, shaking her head. 

Tossing the pebble to Vae, Lira closed her eyes and reached outward into the magic laced land, searching their surroundings for any presence. The dormant arteries of latent magics coursing through the ground beneath their feet disturbed her meditation and distorted the honing probe of her shadow sense. 

Vae had already untied the string and unfolded the wrinkled paper by the time Lira opened her eyes and huffed in light frustration. The priestess held it up for her to see, her eyes wide and questioning. 

Snatching the paper, Lira turned it to read its message. “Don’t be alarmed. I’m approaching.”


End file.
